Sing for the Moment
by Faith Valconbridge
Summary: Complete Crack. A potion is circling the school leaving everyone it infects unable to hide their true emotions.Facades are unvieled and boundaries are crossed.An unlikely group of students pair together to solve this mystery.
1. GLAMOUROUS

Draco was sitting in the Great Hall surrounded by his four best friends; Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise. Over the course of the morning, they had been discussing if it is better to marry for money and status or to marry for love. Of course, every single one of them had arranged marriages, but still, there was no harm discussing another option.

"Well, I still agree with Draco on the money thing. If you ain't got money, you can't be happy," Blaise said, cutting his sausage into pieces.

"Yeah, but being in love would make you happy! Haven't you got any idea about romance?" Pansy sighed; she might as well be talking to herself.

"Not if you couldn't afford anything," Draco put in, pointing his fork loosely at Pansy, who was sitting across from him. They were sitting towards the front of the Slytherin table eating their dinner, Blaise at the head of the table, Crabbe sitting next to Draco, and Goyle next to Pansy.

"You didn't let me finish," Blaise continued, looking at Pansy and then sucking his teeth, raising an eyebrow. He did this a lot when he was waiting for attention. Pansy turned back to him, starting to get slightly moody over the situation. "But, I would probably marry for love if I had the choice." He nodded as he spoke and then started eating again.

"No, what is love anyway? An obsession with another person! If you value a person as much as you do your own life, then it causes problems, especially in these days. It's best in our generation to promote status, get to know important people. If you don't know anyone important, you won't survive this war! No protection!" Draco said. All the boys nodded in defeat, agreeing that that much was true. But Pansy simply didn't agree; to her, love was important.

"Yes, but would you be able to live with someone you didn't love, make love with that person, have a family? I know I wouldn't be able to," she said, folding her arms after pushing her dinner away.

"You know Pansy, you've actually got a point there…. I've changed my mind, love over money." Blaise said, but he didn't continue because Draco interrupted.

"Well, that comes with it; I'd prefer that. There would be security, money, and a family, what more do you need?"

"You're just money-and-status obsessed, Draco," Blaise pointed out. Draco couldn't really argue with that. He just replied with "Well, yeah..." and then looked at Blaise as if he was stupid.

Blaise wiped his mouth on his serviette after pushing his plate away from him. He leaned on his hand while thinking for a short time. No one said anything; it seemed they were all trying to come up with relevant points.

"No, I can't do it! I want to cancel my marriage. I'd prefer to be poor and happy than rich and miserable."

Draco sighed, turning to his friend of three years. "Blaise, if you had money, you _would _be happy. Trust me. My home life isn't perfect but the money does keep me happy. How can't I be happy? Look at me!" He gestured to his school uniform, which did look highly aristocratic and a lot flashier than everyone else's. "If you look good then you feel good. If you've got money, you can't run out of things to do. So you won't have time to feel sad or whatever," Draco argued, smiling and shaking his head at his friend's stupidity.

Everyone was silent for a minute. Blaise was now drinking coffee, and Pansy was eating ice cream. Crabbe, Goyle and Draco had helped themselves to seconds, but everyone was trying to beat what Draco had just said.

"Yeah, but what if you married for love, _and_ you were filthy rich and already in higher society?" Goyle said, looking up from his steak pie.

"Well, then it kills two birds wiv one stone, dunit?" Crabbe said, smiling to himself and shoveling food into his mouth. Draco stared in disgust at his friend.

"You repulse me, you know, Crabbe. Learn some manners," he drawled, shooting Crabbe daggers. Blaise smiled to himself. Even he had to admit that, Crabbe was a little... middle-class compared to everyone else in the group of friends.

"Yeah I know, Draco, but you're stuck up, so we're even." He gave his friend a cheeky smile and returned to his meal.

"I'm not stuck up!" Draco said as he shot a dirty look to his friend before he continued eating his vegetarian lasagna. Goyle laughed.

"Sorry Draco, I have to agree that you're as stuck up as they get. You know you're rich, you're as famous as Potter, you know you're good looking… You've got everything anyone would want, and you flaunt it!" Goyle said with a smile on his face.

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Stop ganging up on him. He's not stuck up, just... extremely glamorous." Draco smiled as he nodded and took a drink of his pumpkin juice. He had to admit that he was very glamorous.

"Yeah, I'm just-" He stopped talking and started coughing and spluttering. A weird, warm sensation swirled in his throat all the way down to his stomach. Everyone looked alarmed and Crabbe began tapping his back. A few people down the Slytherin table stopped their conversations, being nosy to see who was choking. "I'm fine," he wheezed. "It must have gone down the wrong way." Suddenly, he stood up and leaned his hands on the table, looking alert and slightly tipsy.

"Did you call me glamorous?" He smirked, flashing a sexy wink at Pansy, his voice higher than usual and his skin flushed in excitement.

"Yes..." Pansy repeated uneasily, as if talking to a three year Draco sat back down, flicked his hair back and smiled at everyone, a flirty sort of attitude taking over him.

"What, like..." he continued with another smile, standing up to walk around his friends. "_G-L-A- M-O-R-O-U-S,__"_ Draco sang, running his hands seductively across his friends as he walked past them.

"Erm… Draco..." Blaise stuttered. Rather than stop what he was doing, Draco didn't answer and continued to sing, a huge grin on his face. Amused by the commotion, a few Slytherins started laughing behind their hands and serviettes.

Draco just winked at them all and bit his lip seductively. He stood behind Blaise with his hands on both of his friend's shoulders. He watched the Slytherin table and then leaned down and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear into Blaise's ear.

_"G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S._"

Crabbe began to howl in laughter, slapping his hand on the table as Draco licked the shell of Blaise's ear while staring down the Slytherin table. More people looked over at Crabbe's sudden outburst, and Pansy saw the Mudblood Granger and her friends looking over curiously.

"Draco, stop this now. You're getting an audience," Pansy said blushing. Draco didn't even seem to hear her. He just turned around and sat in Blaise's lap, continuing to sing.

"_First class? Up in sky_." He stood up and pushed Blaise back in his chair with his foot. Blaise skidded a few meters and Draco climbed onto the table. _"__With champagne? Living my life__…"_ He walked down the table as though it was a catwalk. _"__In the fast lane? I wouldn't change... Glamorous?"_ Draco stopped walking and paused for a moment.

"Oh Merlin, this is rich…" Goyle laughed on, all the Slytherins either laughing or looking embarrassed at their king's behavior. Professor Snape got up from the Heads table and started to walk over, looking like a bat out of hell.

"_I'm talking Champagne wishes__.__"_ Draco kicked a goblet of juice over. _"__Caviar dreams__…"_ He walked over to Pansy and pulled her onto the table, while she desperately tried to get away. _"__You deserve nothing but all the finer things, now this whole world have no clue what to do with us, I've got enough money in the bank for the two of us.__"_

"Mr. Malfoy, let go of Miss Parkinson immediately and get off the table. This is not appropriate." As easily imagined, the whole Hall was laughing at the scene of Malfoy singing at the top of his voice on the table. As usual, Draco ignored the professor.

Pansy yelped in a quite undignified manner as Draco picked her left leg up by hooking his hand underneath her shoe heel, putting her leg on his hip. _"Brother gotta keep enough lettuce, to support your shoe fetish…" _He grinned at her then let go, catching her as she stumbled in her high shoes. He pulled her back onto the table and then spun her around as if they were dancing together. Pansy's expression was somewhat horrified.

"_Lifestyle so rich and famous, __Robin Leach will get jealous, half a million for the stones__, taking trips from here to Rome.__"_ He turned to the professor and then yelled, _"__But you ain't got no money, take your broke ass home!__"_

With a flourish, Draco jumped off the table, with everyone in hysterics around the hall. Draco's smile wavered as the warm sensation in his stomach and throat disappeared, a dizzy sensation overcoming him. Suddenly, everything turned black. Pansy and several others screamed and gasped as Draco collapsed on the floor.

* * *

Songs included in this chapter are: Glamorous by Fergie, released in March 2007 from the album The Dutchess and written was written by Stacy Ferguson, Jamal Jones, Will Adams, Elvis Williams, Christopher Bridges :)

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge . This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	2. All by Myself

A thin beam of light shone from underneath the office door, piercing the darkness in the hospital wing. Draco Malfoy sat up in bed, feeling a little groggy and rather strange. He couldn't understand what was going on. Why was he in the hospital wing? He felt fine… Okay, he was a little grouchy and his head hurt a bit. However, it was nothing bad enough for a night in the hospital wing.

Then he sat up and thought about it. 'Ah,' said a little voice inside his head, 'the episode at dinner.' He groaned in embarrassment. "The episode indeed," he muttered in the dark. He had collapsed in front of everyone. But why? He remembered singing and having a bit of fun, then the next thing he knew, he was here. 'Well, that sucks,' he thought to himself folding his arms.

He remembered Professor Snape being really angry with him, but that confused him as well. What had he done wrong? He was just telling his friends that he lead a glamorous life. What was everyone's problem?

What confused him more than anything were all these new feelings. Sure, he usually had feelings, he was human after all, but they all felt intensified, sharp. Every emotion was clearer and deeper and more defined than before. It really was giving him a headache; he felt dizzy and it bothered him. Then just as before, his throat tingled and his tummy swam with weird feelings until…

"_I__'__m so dizzy my head is spinning, like a whirlpool it never ends, and it__'__s you that__'__s making me spin, you're making me dizzy, yeah.__"_ Draco tried to stop singing while was doing it, he really did, but after he stopped singing it made sense as to why he had done it. He felt dizzy, so he sang it. Simple.

He looked around in the dark and then down at the hospital pyjamas he was wearing. He looked at the clock on the wall. It was only ten o'clock. He had not been here very long, so where were his friends? Surely they would want to be here when he woke up, and Curfew certainly didn't stop them. Had he annoyed them too, like Professor Snape? Didn't they care? He was so confused and it just made his head hurt even more. It was cold in the hospital wing, so Draco lay back down in bed, pulling the covers up to his neck. He suddenly felt awfully lonely.

Pansy watched one of her four best friends sitting in a hospital bed and looking around; he was looking for them, probably. Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise and herself were in Madam Pomfrey's office waiting for Professor Snape to come back with the test results.

After Draco had collapsed, everyone had immediately stopped laughing, knowing something was wrong. People simply did not sing at the top of their voices; dance around like a Veela in mating season then collapse on the floor, especially when your name was Draco Malfoy. Draco didn't sing at all, in front of _anyone_. Okay, that was a little lie, he did sing under his breath all the time. Strangely enough, Draco loved music. Often people thought he was muttering or cursing under his breath, but she knew different: Pansy had caught him humming little tunes and recognised lyrics now and then. But on the table in the Great Hall? Now, Draco didn't like music _that_ much.

She was genuinely concerned for her friend. He was normally quite reserved and sophisticated. Being bought up in a rich and respectable family set you in a certain way, to a certain standard, and normally Draco had very high standards.

Blaise sighed from a chair in the corner and Crabbe and Goyle were sitting on the desk. Everyone was silently lost in his or her own thoughts. Pansy saw Draco lay back down; he hadn't seen her watching through the blinds. Maybe she should just check if he was okay. It was when she opened the door that she realised that he was singing again.

"_Living alone, I think of all the friends I__'__ve known, when I dial the telephone, nobody's home. All by myself, don__'__t wanna be, all by myself, anymore__…"_ She closed the door with a sharp click when she heard Crabbe and Goyle laughing quietly from the table. Blaise sat with a smirk on his face at the sound.

"You guys think this is really funny, don't you?" Pansy fumed. "Well, it's not, not in the slightest, guys! Someone has done something to him! Why is he singing about everything? It's just not… Draco…ish." She flopped into the chair, messaging her temples. How long would he have to keep humiliating himself like this?

"Come on, Pansy!" Blaise responded from the corner. "It's not that bad, you're acting as though he's got some fatal disease or something. He's just singing, what's wrong with that? Draco loves music."

"That is not the point, Zabini, and you know it. He has a reputation to keep; he's become the laughing stock of the school." Pansy said through gritted teeth, emphasising her friend's last name to get the point across. Their argument didn't develop any further as Professor Snape came and drank a shot of vodka from one of the bottles, completely ignoring Pansy when she pointed out that was for medical use. He then pushed Crabbe and Goyle off the desk and sat down, the same blank expression as before.

"Well, sit down then! What do you think, I have all night?" he barked at his students, who immediately scuttled to sit down in front of their Head of House. They sat in silence, waiting for the professor to speak. He spoke in a calm and reserved tone, contrasting his sudden outburst.

"It seems Mr. Malfoy has a certain liking for music." He knew one of them would make a comment at that, as they rolled their eyes. He raised his hand, preventing any comments from being spoken aloud. "What I meant to say is, that Mr. Malfoy's fondness of music has leaded him to this. He's had a 'Soul Expressions' spell and potion placed on him." Snape stared at blank faces. Oh Merlin, did children these days know nothing? He almost sighed but resisted the urge, taking a calming breath and continuing on.

"The 'Soul Expressions' spell was invented in the 15th century by a woman whose husband was cruel to her; she knew deep down he loved her and wanted him to show it. It makes the bearer extremely aware of emotions that may have been overlooked in the past, or kept hidden. Whoever cast this on Mr. Malfoy wanted him to pay a lot more attention to his feelings. This spell and potion can't wear off until he admits whatever it is that made the person cast it in the first place."

Silence.

"DRACO IS SINGING WHAT HE REALLY FEELS!" Snape yelled, giving up on the calm approach. The children in front of him responded a lot better to that, and they all muttered various comments: 'oh', 'that makes sense' and 'okay'.

"So how do you remove it?" said Pansy, almost shaking with worry.

"I told you, until he admits something to himself, there is no removal of the spell's effects. Do you have any idea what it would be? Or the reason someone would cast this on him?" Snape said, piercing the three with a glare, trying to prevent any lies. The group all shook their heads, and he believed them.

"What heartless bastards!" Pansy muttered, just before she burst out crying into her hands. The four men in room all looked unsure what to do. Blaise went to give her a hug, but she screamed "Don't touch me!" sobbing even harder. Crabbe rolled his eyes at the only female of his friends.

"Pansy, I think you're on o something," Goyle pointed out. "Draco is a heartless bastard, isn't he?"

"I WAS TALKING ABOUT THE CASTER!" She snapped back, the words slightly muffled from her hysteria.

"You've got a point there, Goyle," Blaise said looking at everyone. "People often hate Draco because of his cold exterior; maybe someone was trying to make him feel. Be less of the heartless bastard he is."

"Well, that certainly makes sense, seeing as that's what the potion is for. You've basically just repeated what I said," Professor Snape muttered. "Well, it's not a big deal, it will be annoying, humiliating and highly inappropriate, but you're going to have to put up with it until he admits whatever emotion that person was trying to make him feel. Until then, you three are to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. With all of his sharpened feelings and emotions, he's going to get very distressed over something small. Anger, sadness, grief or especially depression has to be avoided at all costs. Who knows what the boy would do!" Snape's worried tone unsettled them all.

"So you're telling me he feels everything stronger now?"

"Yes, fourteen times stronger than everyone else, to be precise."

"Why fourteen?"

"Well, it seems the potion maker wasn't that skilled. It's supposed to be fifteen times, but they didn't put enough powered monkroot into the concoction."

"Well, if it's a potion, give him another one, an antidote," Goyle replied.

"Mr. Goyle, if I could give him an antidote then I would have already, it's a spell AND a potion," Snape snapped. Oh, how he adored children and their cute little faces! He almost cringed at that thought. "Anyway children, bed now, I don't expect to find you at Draco's side until at least 6 am. He will be released tomorrow before breakfast. You may go now."

Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise rose from their chairs and walked silently out the doors. They all stared at Draco in shock when they saw what he was doing.

"_Baa baa black sheep have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full, one for the Master, one for the Dame and one for the little boy who lives down the lane. Baa baa__…"_

"What the fuck? Oh, this is rich!" Blaise said, holding back laughter. Crabbe and Goyle were walking out the infirmary snickering as soon as they heard Draco's song. Professor Snape stepped out the office and paused just before locking the door.

"Why is he singing that song, Professor?" Pansy exclaimed, looking distressed.

"Counting sheep, I suppose."

"Sheep? SHEEP! THIS BOY IS DRIVING ME INSANE! COUNTING SHEEP! I'M GOING TO KILL HIM WHEN HE'S BETTER. I'M GOING TO CUT OFF HIS—"

"Pansy, could you be quiet please? I'm trying to sleep…"

"EUURRRRHHHH!"

* * *

"Dizzy", a song by Tommy Roe which was a worldwide smash hit single in 1969. Which later became a hit for Vic Reeves in 1991. "Baa Baa Black Sheep" is an English nursery rhyme, sung to a variant of the 1761 French melody Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman.

Fanfiction by Faith Valconbridge . This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	3. Leave Out All the Rest

Hermione Granger was in hysterics and not the good type, not tummy-clutching funny laughter… well… the tummy clutching maybe. Bent over the toilet in her dormitory, Hermione was emptying the entire contents of her stomach into the basin. She always cried when she was sick, but this time it was different: she was in excruciating pain. Hermione was running a fever and had a splitting headache which was strange because it had suddenly come out of nowhere.

She had been at dinner, eating a sensible amount of food at a sensible speed when the strangest thing had happened. No, even stranger than Malfoy spontaneously dancing on the table. She had felt horribly sick all of a sudden. A weird feeling swept around in her stomach and her right hand had twitched and reached across the table to pick up Ginny's quill. Of course, she had stopped her hand before any of her friends had noticed, slipping away from the hall easily as Malfoy was dancing with Parkinson on the table.

She really hadn't thought much of her sudden affliction, because once she was out the hall her hand stopped twitching and her mind cleared. She had leant against the wall breathing deeply and staring at her right hand, horrifically frightened. That had been it.

She had decided she was tired and that she should have an early night, so it was around quarter past eight when she snuggled down into her sheets, not at all worried that Ron and Harry didn't know where she was. She was sure Ginny would check and let them know. She fell asleep peacefully, feeling fine, not aware that as she dreamed the fingers of her right hand had twitched.

And here she was, two hours and thirty-five minutes later (10:50 at night precisely) losing her lunch. And she was scared: she never felt this bad before, her entire body was trembling with nausea. She knew she should get to the hospital wing, but she could barely stand. However, being the sensible girl she was, she knew she would have to go.

Wiping her mouth, Hermione stood up shaking like mad and stumbled out of the bathroom, gripping on to the doorframe as she almost fell. Stomach churning, she groaned aloud, not caring if she woke her friends up. She walked down to the hospital wing, her world spinning around her. She was sure that she was sick in the corridor a few times, but she was stuck in a state of semi-consciousness and therefore was neither aware nor particularly cared. When she finally reached the hospital wing, she did not have any more energy and collapsed onto nearest bed in exhaustion. Unfortunately, this bed contained Draco Malfoy.

* * *

Draco was still lying wide awake long after Pansy and his friends had left at ten o'clock. He didn't have a clue what time it was now. Not that it really mattered, anyway: the time was the last thing on his mind. He was still coming to terms with his sudden outbursts. Earlier when he had thought about it, he hadn't thought it strange, but now he did. A little bit, anyway. He normally didn't act like this; he was sure of it.

He stared blankly at the ceiling. 'Well,' he thought silently to himself. 'It's a good thing I've got a nice voice.' At least he didn't sound like a strangled cat or something equally as disturbing.

He continued staring at the ceiling. He knew lying there and worrying about himself wasn't going to help in the slightest, but he couldn't do anything more. He did not normally worry about things. Hell, he didn't even have a conscience! He didn't worry or feel bad about anything, which was simply the Malfoy way of things. Should this situation be an exception? Was he making a fool of himself? He sat and thought about it for a moment… NO!

Malfoys do not worry and this Malfoy certainly was NOT making a fool of himself. He was just being… eccentric.

"Yeah, you go along with that, Draco," he muttered to himself. Rolling onto his stomach and staring out the window above his bed, he tried to block out all these intense feelings. He couldn't help but feel… cold. Was this how everyone felt, this strongly? This deeply? Just thinking about another person bought a new way of feeling.

Blaise, for example… thinking about Blaise almost made him laugh aloud. The crazy little things he did, the little pranks he pulled, he was always winding everyone up. Blaise wallowed in the misery of his friends, especially when he had caused it. Draco bet that his friend was laughing at his misfortune right now. Unless he was in earshot of Pansy, then he'd get a thick ear. Blaise's laugh just made Draco smile. He sounded so alive and … free.

Draco chose to ignore that last sentence his brain had processed and continued staring out the window at the stars. He could see Orion's belt, the Dog Star Sirius, and his own constellation if he looked closely enough. Yes, there was Draco. As he gazed, he finally allowed himself to feel; it was as if he was feeling for the first time. The stars made him feel quite emotional. He didn't even realise he was singing softly under his breath.

"_Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, save it for a rainy day, catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, never let it__…__ fade away.__"_ It wasn't an outburst like before, barely a whisper, and when Draco stopped singing, he wasn't sure if it was the potion or him. His hand slipped underneath his chin as he fell asleep, and he barely registered the shift in weight as someone fell beside him.

Draco shot up in bed; he had just had the weirdest and most horrible dream in his life and it unnerved him. He shook the horrific thoughts from his head and turned back over, falling instantly back to sleep.

When Draco woke for the second time, it was just as unpleasant as the first time. There was a loud crash of a plate smashing, a scream and then:

"THERE'S A MUDBLOOD IN HIS BED!"

Draco rolled his eyes then tried to get back to sleep. Upon trying to roll over, he discovered he couldn't move because of the slight pressure on his chest. Looking down, he noticed that a mass of messy curly brown hair was curled up on his chest.

"WHAT THE FUCK! THERE'S A MUDBLOOD ON MY CHEST!" he screeched, panicking. However, as he looked at down her, he couldn't help but feel bad. He was feeling… was that pity? And as he felt it, last night's dream came back to him and he felt a void. Draco swallowed thickly as he looked down at Hermione on his chest, just staring… thinking.

He didn't hear the yelling of Pansy Parkinson, or Blaise trying to calm her down: he heard and felt nothing. He didn't even register the words falling off his lips. He was stuck in a world of emotion and only self-expression could let it out.

"_I dreamed I was missing, and you were so scared, but no one would listen, because no one else cared, and when I was done dreaming, I woke with this fear, what am I leaving, when I done here?__"_Draco sang softly, his eyes filling up with unshed tears that would never fall, because after all, Malfoys do not cry.

The arguing came to a halt, everyone exchanging a look. Blaise in particular looked very concerned.

Draco didn't notice the room was silent because his world was shrouded in silence. He didn't notice Pansy come and sit down next to him, or Blaise's almost-guilty gaze on him. All he felt was the heart that was beating on his stomach.

"_I want you to know, when my time comes, forget the wrong that I__'__ve done. Help me leave behind some reason to be missed? Don__'__t resent me, and when you__'__re feeling empty, keep me in your memories, leave out all the rest, just leave out all the rest.__"_ He suddenly felt the tears that had dared to wet his face, slowly coming to the realization that his friends were there. He suddenly he didn't feel as bad as he had before.

He looked down at the girl on his chest. He did not smile, or feel any sort of warmth, but simply bad for her. Maybe he could take care of her, she looked very sick.

"OH MY GOD THERE'S A FERRET IN HER BED! MY EYES ARE BURNING, I'M GONNA KILL HIM!"

Fuck that thought.

* * *

"Catch a Falling Star" is a song composed by Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance, and recorded in 1957 by Perry Como. "Leave Out All the Rest" is a song by Linkin Park, the song was released as the fifth and final single from their third album Minutes to single was released on July 15, 2008.

Fanfiction by Faith Valconbridge. This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	4. War! Huh, What is it good for?

It wasn't until forty-five minutes later that Pansy and Blaise, with some unwanted help from Harry, had managed to get Hermione off Draco without waking her up. Ron was also trying to get Draco from underneath Hermione while hurting him as much as possible, but surprisingly, he didn't wake her either.

Blaise, Harry and Pansy then managed to pry Draco and Ron off each other as they wrestled on the floor, shouting obscenities at each other. This resulted with Draco karate chopping Ron on the head and singing: _"__WAR! Huh? What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!__", _getting up to dance in the redhead's face.

Now that that was finally over, Pansy could sit worrying about why the Mudblood was in his bed in the first place. She was sitting on Draco's bed in the Slytherin dormitories, waiting for him to get out the shower so she could take him to breakfast. She was fearing if he was to go anywhere on his own, it would cause disaster.

She rolled her eyes at the sound of him singing in the shower, something she had never heard him do before and wouldn't have believed it if she wasn't hearing it. But it was unmistakable that he was singing 'The Phantom of the Opera' in the shower while singing both Christine's and the Phantom's parts.

"_He's there, the Phantom on the Opera... Beware the Phantom of the Opera... In all your fantasies, you always knew that man and mystery…"_

Pansy would be horrified if she knew he was acting this out melodramatically with a back scrubber and a sponge, while using the shower curtain as the stage curtains and the side of the bath as the stage.

Meanwhile, completely oblivious to her friend's insanity, Pansy sat and pondered the whole situation. Okay, Draco HAD been asleep at midnight; she had walked up to the hospital wing to check. So between then and 6 am, he and Granger had managed to get into bed together and had done Merlin-knows-what. That was 6 hours of missing time; she didn't even want to imagine the possibilities.

She was to have to talk with Draco about how one minute he hated the Mudblood and the next he was waking up with her on his chest. It was just… weird. This potion was changing Draco, and she didn't like it.

Half an hour later, at quarter past eight, Draco was sitting his four best friends at the Slytherin table. Pansy was moaning at him about Granger while Crabbe and Goyle randomly laughing at him . Blaise was reading the paper, but soon sighed and closed _the Daily Prophet_.

"What's up Blaise?" Draco asked, flicking through his own paper, looking for what might have upset his friend.

"It is women these days; you can't get a decent one." Of course, this statement started Pansy off.

"Women? It's men that are the problem!"

"Pansy let him finish," Draco snapped to his outspoken friend. "Go on, Blaise." Draco nodded at his friend, interested.

"If I talk, you won't start singing will you? I mean, last time we had 'The great marriage debate' you started singing on the table, " he questioned. Draco smiled and shook his head. "Well, I was just reading the Prophet, the old bint who's married to Wadsworth… You know they just got divorced; she drained him of every penny, the manor and the lot. What if that happens to one of us?"

"It won't," Draco affirmed automatically.

"You would think that though, after all, who would do that to a Malfoy?" Blaise mocked.

"Exactly." Draco said, smirking at his friend.

"It's not women who are the problem, it's the men." Pansy muttered. "I mean, look at all the guys around here. They're all pigs." Draco and Blaise grinned as she glared at Goyle. Crabbe was oblivious, as usual. "Everyone in Hogwarts is a minger(1) and they just don't know how to act classy or impress a girl. The only thing boys want these days is quick shag. I can't have a decent boyfriend without getting molested, but I need my virginity to get into my marriage!" she sighed. "Are we the only ones in the school who have our futures sorted? Times are changing, but I feel like I'm in the Dark Ages." She finished with a dramatic breath.

"I know what you mean." Blaise and Draco said at the same time. They smiled at each other briefly when they said it.

"I'm never gonna get a decent guy," Pansy complained. "And I don't feel like waiting until I'm eighteen for my first boyfriend!"

"There are decent guys, look at me and Draco, we're decent!"

"Yeah, you both are. But I mean, other people! It _is_ hard to get a man with the money and the looks. It's either one or the other. It sucks."

Draco pouted from across the table.

"Well, apart from you Draco, you've got money and you've definitely got the looks." Draco grinned and stood up, flicking his hat on his head as he began to sing.

"_I__'__m bringing sexy back! Yep, those other boys dunno how to act, yep! Let me make up for the things they lack. __'__Cause im burning up babe and that__'__s a fact! YEP YEP!__"_ Pansy banged her head on the table. Why did she say that? His ego was bigger than this school. She did not need to fuel it! And Merlin, he was singing… again.

"_Dirty babe? You see these shackles baby, I__'__m your slave.__"_ Draco sang seductively to Pansy as he pointed to his feet then smacked his hip, while licking his lips. Pansy just rolled her eyes as he sang to her.

"Draco," she said calmly. "Do you want everyone to think you've gone completely mental?"

"_I__'__ll let you whip me if I misbehave,__"_ he said innocently.

"Draco! Do not ignore me. Stop it!" Draco was already doing the moonwalk and starting to body pop as he sang, so Pansy shook her head, embarrassed more than anything else. Girls were giggling at him from around the hall, boys rolling their eyes.

"_It__'__s just that no one makes me__…"_ And just like that, he stopped and straightened up. "I'm done now." He said, plopping back down into his seat.

"How did you do that? Just stop! I though you couldn't!" Pansy fumed. "Is this all a joke to wind me up?"

"Pansy, what are you an about?" Draco said, looking confused.

"Has no one told him? Doesn't he know yet?" She looked around the table at her friends and refrained from screaming in frustration. "Draco, you've got a Soul Expression on you!" she whispered to him.

"Oh, right, that makes sense," he replied, shrugging.

"Do you not want me to explain?" she said, panicking.

"No, I'm not stupid. Oh, and the "just stopping" thing, I can answer you now. I was singing Justin Timberlake's 'Sexy back', yeah? Well, I tried to sing 'it's just that no one makes me feel this way' and that would be a lie, wouldn't it? So I couldn't sing it, because it wouldn't be a soul expression."

"Oh, thanks," she scoffed.

"Oh, sorry Pansy, for not being in love with you!" He tutted. "Anyway, I'm going to Potions, don't wanna be late."

"Draco. How are so calm? You've got a soul expression on you!"

"Eh," was all he said as he shrugged and walked out of the hall, leaving his friends behind.

Unbeknownst to him, as Draco walked out the hall, someone followed him.

* * *

Hermione was sitting at Gryffindor table, scribbling furiously at a piece of parchment. She was furious, fuming, mad, completely livid, infuriated and more than anything, upset! That... that FERRET! She knew she had not got into his bed last night and god knows he had probably taken advantage of her. Ron and Harry were watching her worried, seeing as they hadn't dared question why she was so mad or even why she was in bed with Malfoy. She denied the entire incident over and over, and they wanted to survive at least until the end of the year.

Quite a few people from the Slytherin table were staring at Malfoy. She HATED HIM!

She glanced up and Crabbe laughed, looking between her and Malfoy and wiping away a tear. This was humiliating and people were laughing at her! When she had woke up this morning she was in shock to find Ron and Malfoy fighting on the floor and yelling at each other.

"MALFOY! If you've touched her I'll kill you!" Ron had yelled as he got the upper hand in the situation.

"Aww, do you not like me touching her? What a shame, because she did!"

Of course, that statement there, that was a lie. Deep down, she knew nothing had happened. But Ron and Harry didn't know that. Malfoy was lying! Why did he do that? And no matter how much she denied that lie, she was sure Ron and Harry did not believe her, because after all, she couldn't explain why she was in bed with him in the first place. She couldn't even remember being in bed with him. Had this whole world gone mad? Thinking about it alternatively, did that actually happen? Was everything that happened this morning a figment of her imagination? She tried not to think about it.

Hermione was ignoring all the strange looks she was getting. She simply scribbled away, her hand twitching madly and her stomach swirling. Was she still ill? She couldn't understand why she kept feeling so weird in her stomach.

After a while, when she had calmed down, she looked in shock at her paper. Had she actually wrote that? She didn't even realise she was forming words on the paper.

"_Why do you do this?_

_Why is everything my fault?_

_How come I'm the bad one?_

_When you're the one in the wrong._

_How come all my truth,_

_Gets turned into lies by you._

_And how come everyone laughs,_

_When I walk in the room._

_I'm asking why you do this?_

_Why you cause me pain?_

_But you just smirk and laugh in my face,_

_Then turn on me again.__…"_

Okay… she was officially freaked out. She turned to Ron sitting beside her.

"I didn't write that," she said, holding up the paper to Ron, looking stressed and nodded in an attempt to be sure.

"Erm, yeah you did 'Mione, we just watched you." He looked at Harry across from him with a worried expression. "Erm, are you okay Herm?" he asked, putting an arm around her and holding her protectively, a gesture that should have shown comfort, but she didn't feel it.

"Oh yeah… I'm fine," she said, her voice very high and a huge scary smile on her face right before she broke down into tears on Ron's shoulder. Ron looked petrified at this; she had never acted like this before. She was acting completely mental.

"Herm, why don't you go and have a lie down, maybe you shouldn't go to classes today…" Hermione just sobbed harder into his shoulder.

"I n-n-need to, g-go to potions first, g-g-got essay and need homework," she mumbled, words muffled and stuttered. People on the Gryffindor table looked at her sympathetically.

Lavender muttered to Parvati, "Probably stressed… Poor thing, she works so hard."

Harry and Ron looked at each other with knowing looks as they heard this. This must be what was wrong. Lately, she was obsessed with work. They had told her it would catch up with her, in an attempt to get her to stop. Who knew they would be right for once?

The three friends walked out of the hall, Ron carrying Hermione in his arms They walked all the way to Gryffindor tower, not caring they were five minutes late for Potions by the time they reached the tower. They were both talking about how Hermione and Malfoy had gone completely mental; staying with Hermione in the common room until they were sure she was going to be okay.

Meanwhile, down in Potions odd things were happening, things that really would confirm the suspicions the two boys had…

By the time they walked into the Potions classroom, all they saw was the class in hysterics, people laughing so hard they were clutching their stomachs as Malfoy was giving a very angry Snape a lap dance…

There was something desperately wrong with that boy.

* * *

(1) Minger (_British Slang_,_ offensive_) An unattractive person (of either sex).

"War" is a soul song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for the Motown label in 1969. Edwin Starr's version is most known. "The Phantom of the Opera" (original title: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux, it was made into a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. "SexyBack" is a song by American singer–songwriter Justin Timberlake from his second studio album, FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006).

Fanfiction by Faith Valconbridge. This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	5. Horny as Dandy!

When Draco had walked out of the hall earlier, he hadn't really planned to go straight to Potions. After all, there was another five minutes until the lesson bell rang, and it would be a few minutes until Snape arrived. He had plenty of time. He planned on going to the toilet and then down to the Dungeons to change his jumper, the one he was wearing was far too thin.

Draco hummed to himself as he walked down the corridor. Pansy had explained quite a few things by just saying the two words 'Soul Expression'. It all made sense now, and he shook his head at himself in the stupidity of not noticing it earlier.

Draco stopped humming as he listened to his footsteps fall and echo off the walls. If he listened closely enough, he could hear a second pair falling just a millisecond after his. At that instant, he knew someone was following him. His hand tightened around his wand slyly in his pocket, not making any noticeable movement, continuing to walk, starting to hum again. Inwardly, he was counting down in his head; on the count of three he would turn around as he got to the corner and point his wand right in his stalker's face and zap them into no man's land.

But Draco didn't make it to three— Draco didn't even make it around the corner. His wand dropped to the floor as someone grabbed him from behind, lifting him off the floor; a firm hand clasped firmly over his mouth, forcing him to breath in fumes. Draco tried to scream, but this simply made him inhale a whole lot of potion, causing him to drop to the floor helpless for the second time in twenty four hours. It was a horrible shame as well, because just before he lost consciousness he realised he knew what potion that was, and he knew who specialised in making them. And what was even worse was, he knew there was possibly no way he would remember this when he finally woke up.

When Draco did wake up again, the corridors were empty and he looked dazed; at his watch. He was late for Potions. He was completely oblivious that he had just been attacked, as that was one of the purposes of the potion. Therefore, unaware, he ran to the Potions lab and banged open the door, coming face to face with Snape who was glancing dangerously around the class. A blush rose to Draco's cheeks.

"Since when did you get so sexy, Sevvy baby?" Draco said, leaning against the doorframe. He could taste the fumes of the potion he had inhaled in his mouth, but he didn't remember the attack. He wasn't even aware of anyone but the dark mysterious man in front of him, tall and graceful, sophisticated and manly. Draco bit his lip as he felt a bolt of pleasure shoot right down into his groin and he moaned.

"I beg your pardon Mr. Malfoy?" Snape said clearly shocked at his previously favourite student's behaviour. Surely, this was not a side effect of the Soul Expressions.

Draco was mesmerised by his Professor. He was drinking in his appearance, the soft black silky hair. Draco wanted to run his hand through that hair. Soft pale thin lips, Draco wanted to tug the man's bottom lip with his teeth…

"Professor Snape, did I tell you? I'm having terrible trouble with my homework, could I come back here tonight to… get a little help with it?" Draco said seductively as he pushed away from the doorframe, advancing on the Potions Master who was slowly walking backwards.

"Mr. Malfoy maybe you should go and see the nurse…" Snape suggested. Draco smirked at him.

"So modest, Professor." Everyone in the class had went from ghostly white to sickly green and now were going pink from holding in laughter. Draco smiled as Snape couldn't back away anymore, he had reached his chair and he dropped down into it, terrified of his student. He didn't have his wand; he had never been in this situation before. What should he do?

Draco sat down in Snape's lap and Snape predictably tried to get away but Draco straddled him, holding his hands firmly onto the rests of the chair.

"Aww, baby I don't like it rough."

"MR MALFOY REMOVE YOURSELF FROM ME THIS INSTANT! 100 POINTS FROM SLYTHERIN, 2 MONTHS DETENTION! OUCH! REMOVE YOUR WAND FROM MY STOMACH, IT HURTS!"

Draco licked his professor's ear and said seductively, "That ain't my wand." Anyone who wasn't already laughing couldn't resist any longer at the comment. Just then, Draco's Soul Expression decided to kick in, and the classroom roared with laughter that was heard all the way down the corridor. The horrified shrieks of a potion Professor as he screamed at his class to help him could be heard all the way to London. He was too old for this. This would be the death of him. He was retiring, a vacation sounded good to him at the moment.

A familiar feeling tingled in Draco's vocal chords and his stomach swirled. He smirked at his professor as he danced on his lap. Snape was horrified. Fuck a vacation, suicide was starting to sound welcoming.

"_You got me horny in morning and you know, I tried to call you but I can't find the phone, I sent a message through the internet but it got rejected, I wrote letter, but the post it takes so long, so I'm about to sing this song, to let you know how I feel, what's the deal baby? I can't wait for you, and the things you make me do, my heart is ringing, so I'm singing this song for you. I'm horny, horny, horny, so horny, horny, horny, horny."_ Just at that moment, Ron and Harry burst into the class room and froze at the sight in front of them.

"POTTER SAVE ME! PLEASE POTTER, GET HIM OFF ME!" With that the boys broke out of their shock and grabbed Draco by the back of his robes, pulling him harshly from Snape. "HOLD HIM DOWN!" Harry and Ron held Draco on the floor, causing the laughter in the class to die down, Snape running into the storeroom. Draco was left screaming on the floor.

"AWW, COME ON SNAPE! YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT GIVE IT TO ME BABY!" Draco stopped screaming as a liquid was rammed down his throat and instantly any lust he was feeling disappeared, causing him to look horrified at the three faces above him.

"Mr. Malfoy, to the headmaster office this instant," Snape growled. Draco stood up shaking and walked out the classroom, ghostly pale and silent. Snape turned to the class, eyes narrowed at his students. "Detention, all of you tonight, with Mr. Filch. Now get out my sight all of you, except for you two," he said, turning to Harry and Ron. The class stayed in their seats, no one daring to move. "YOU THINK I'M JOKING! GET OUT NOW!" Everyone instantly ran from the room, leaving Harry and Ron in the room alone with a very shaken Professor Snape.

"Sir, are you okay?" Harry said looking worried at him. Snape shook his head no.

"You two, thank you for what you did, 10 points to Gryffindor." He paused for a moment. "I'm going to the hospital wing, I need you to go to the Headmaster and tell him this: Draco's condition has been discovered and someone placed a very powerful lust potion on him. I could smell it on his face and breath. Draco's in danger and this joke has been pushed too far. I don't want to report it or nor am I placing a complaint, but tell Albus I'll be going home for a few days. I have a few things to research about Mr. Malfoy. Have you two got that?" he said, looking sternly at them.

"Err, yeah…" Snape nodded then walked out the room, still shaking like mad, leaving Harry and Ron horribly confused.

* * *

Later that evening, rumours were circulating the school about why the Potions Professor had suddenly disappeared. However, the only one that everyone was saying was too crazy to be true WAS the true one. So far, the student population had decided a Veela had seduced him and he'd ran off to Japan. He had fell in love with a Werewolf, then the werewolf had attacked Snape so he'd fled the country in shame. The other half of the student population was saying something about him being fired because he was having student-teacher relationships. Some decided he was dead, and the others said he had gone into hiding because he had a terrible potions accident that had left him horribly deformed and scarred.

But it was only the sixth years of Slytherin and Gryffindor who knew the truth, and it was impossible for them to confirm it because A, the whole class was in detention, B, they would be killed by Snape and C, they were all wracked with guilt. But for the moment, it was only Harry and Ron who could tell anyone anything, and they were going to go and tell Hermione the strange thing she'd missed today.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon and Hermione had stayed in bed all day. When Harry and Ron had flew up to her dorm, literally as they were avoiding sliding down the steps they had discovered her asleep on her bed in her pyjamas. Repeating a moment of shock like they had earlier, they stood in the doorway, not daring to move. The whole dorm had scraps of paper everywhere, parchment out of notebooks was scrunched up in balls, ink blotches scattered about. Hermione was laying covered in ink, little words covering her arms.

"Hermione?" Ron looked around in shock, neither of the boys moving. Harry finally bent down and picked up a piece of paper.

"_She's floating and falling, _

_Straight through the sky, _

_Wind whistling around her, _

_and time ticks on by. _

_Falling and freezing, _

_Shivering from the cold, _

_Blind, scared and wounded, _

_Desperate to be held. _

_She's frozen from the inside, _

_Feelings are a blur, _

_Her eyes are glazing over, _

_She's dying in the cold, _

_That her life has given to her. _

_She feels as though she's freezing, _

_Turning blue from the core, _

_Her heart is icing up, _

_She can't breathe no more. _

_Her blood is running cold, _

_Her limps are turning stiff, _

_She's falling from the sky, _

_She's a heaven sent gift. _

_She's floating and falling, _

_Straight through the sky,_

_Wind whistling around her, _

_and time ticks on by. _

_She's cold and she's icy, _

_Falling in the night, _

_She won't hit the ground,_

_But continue in her flight. _

_She's just cold and trapped, _

_Trapped in the ice, _

_And my heart is breaking for her, _

_As I watch her falling frozen every night."_

"Bloody hell, Harry. That's…"

"Disturbing…" they both looked at each other and simultaneously walked over to the bed and shook Hermione awake.

"'Mione? What the bloody hell are you playing at! Is this some cry for help? You don't have to do this! We're here for you, whatever it is! Why are you doing this, you're scaring us." Ron said, gripping her shoulders tightly. Hermione looked at him confused.

"Ronald, what are you talking about?" She genuinely looked surprised at what he was doing.

"Hermione, Ron's right, this has to stop. What's the matter? Don't do this to yourself, just tell us what's wrong and we'll help you! You can tell us anything, you're our best friend." And with that, Harry started sobbing and grabbed her into a hug. Not even half a second later, Ron was clutching into her as well. She froze. Had her friends gone mad? She tapped their backs slowly all the while thinking to herself 'okaaay…'

After a while, they pulled away from her, both looking absolutely miserable. She felt awkward.

"Guys? What's wrong?" she asked nervously. She didn't want them to start yelling at her, seeing as they seemed pretty worked up over something. They looked at each other her then back to Hermione.

"Mione, this is crazy, you can't avoid it, and we KNOW something is wrong. Just look around, it's clear to see this is a cry for help!" Ron almost screamed at her, he was _that_ distraught.

Hermione looked around her for the first time at the mess, glancing down in horror at her arms and her pyjamas covered in ink. She started to panic.

"Guys! You have to believe me I didn't do this!" She jumped off the bed, picking up the papers and flicking through them, pure terror on her face as she stared at her own tidy scrawl of writing. "I didn't write these!" She threw them to the floor as though they burned her her hands.

"What? Like you didn't write that one at breakfast, we've seen you do it Hermione!" Ron shouted at her. Hermione shook her head in disbelief.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME? ALL I EVER DID IS LOVE YOU! AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME? MESS WITH MY HEAD! THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH ME! IT'S YOU!" And with that, Hermione stormed out the room in tears, still wearing her ink-covered pyjamas and scratching furiously at her word covered arms.

* * *

Draco was sitting in library. He wasn't feeling that good, and he'd only just got away from Dumbledore half an hour ago. He truly felt sick to the core at what he had done to Professor Snape. He knew it wasn't his fault, but he really felt bad, and because of this soul expression thing, he was feeling it fourteen times more strongly than he usually would be.

He didn't even have time to apologise; he knew Snape had returned home by lunch, and by that time he was still being questioned and talking with Dumbledore. Snape had said he wasn't going to report it, but Draco wished he had. He felt terrible.

Potter and Weasley had showed up shortly after he had arrived at Dumbledore's office, telling the Headmaster what Snape told them to. He was in danger? What a load of crap, it was just a lust potion. It was a pretty funny thing to do, if it wasn't Snape he had molested, or under different circumstances or… it just wasn't funny at all, actually.

Draco was leaning against the bookshelf, sitting on the floor. Unbeknownst to him, on the other side Hermione Granger was doing the exact same thing as him. Thinking… If the shelf wasn't there, they would have been sitting back to back. Draco sighed.

Silence.

He heard the unmistakable sound of a sob. He stiffened, realizing the noise was from behind him.

"Whoever you are, why are you crying?" he whispered, not moving.

"It's nothing, I'm fine," A hushed reply was heard from behind him.

"People who cry aren't fine."

"Well, okay I'm not, I'm horribly upset and I'm confused and I've just fallen out with my friends." Hermione whispered back, leaning her head against the books.

"Oh, you're a Hufflepuff?"

"No, a Gryffindor. What made you say that?"

"Oh, I thought Gryffindors were brave, that they didn't cry. I thought they were strong. And crying isn't strong. It's weak."

"No, it isn't." Hermione disagreed. "Crying isn't a weakness, it's strength, being able to accept that something in your life is wrong."

"I never thought about it like that before."

Silence.

"You're a Slytherin aren't you?"

"Yes, are we that predicable?" Draco asked.

"A little." Hermione sniffled.

Silence.

"So why are you crying, oh mighty Gryffindor?" Draco questioned. The words could have sounded mocking, but the tone was soothing.

"How can I trust you? You're a Slytherin."

"Why should I listen? You're a Gryffindor."

Silence.

Sniffle.

Sob.

Silence.

"Look, are you sure you don't want to talk about it, I don't even know who you are! How could I tell anyone, no one would believe me anyway. "

"I suppose." Hermione hesitated. "I'm not really sure actually, something's happening. And it's weird, I can't figure whether it's me that's in the wrong or my friends."

"Maybe it's neither of you, and it's a misunderstanding." Hermione froze then slowly looked down at her arms, reading the words in her head, rubbing at them trying to get the ink off.

"You could be right."

"I'm always right." Draco smirked, although it wasn't a vicious one, it was more of a smile than a smirk. He was almost mocking himself.

"No, nobody is always right. _And even I know that_."

"So, you're right a lot of the time then?"

"I wouldn't say that, but I have the habit of being correct about most things. But no one is ALWAYS right."

"No, I suppose you're right."

Silence.

"So," Hermione whispered again to the stranger. "Why are you here?"

"I was thinking. I did something bad today, you've probably heard about it."

"I haven't heard anything; I've been in the tower all day."

"Tower?"

"Gryffindor tower."

"Oh, I didn't know you were in the towers, the Gryffindor dormitories, I mean. I'm in the dungeons."

"I know."

"You say that no one is always right, but you sure know a lot of stuff, Mystery Girl."

"No, I don't. And now I have a nickname? Mystery boy?" She smiled. Draco smiled too.

"Yeah, you're my mystery Gryffindor girl." Draco joked, his worries beginning to clear.

"Yours_?_"

"Yes, mine. You're my talking buddy."

"Oh."

Silence.

"So, my mystery boy, what bad thing did you do?"

"I sent Snape away."

"Snape?" Hermione gasped.

"Yeah, you'll probably hear about it. But it will be a lie; I've heard some of the rumours going around…"

"You sent Snape away?" Apparently, Hermione was still in shock.

"Well, yeah…"

"I can't believe you did…"

"Don't rub it in, I feel bad as it is."

"Sorry."

The whispers died down.

Silence.

"Look mystery boy, I have to go, we've been here an hour and half and dinner is in half an hour."

"I guess it is."

Silence.

"Will I see you around?" Hermione asked hopefully, this boy had made her feel a little better.

"I suppose, you might see me everyday."

"And we'd never know." she finished.

Silence

"Mystery girl?"

"Hmm?"

"Will you meet me here tomorrow? The same place and time?"

Silence.

"Sure."

"Bye, then."

"Bye."

Hermione heard the boy get up, his shoes scuffing on the carpet as he walked away, leaving her feeling awfully empty. She felt strange. Hermione stared back down at her arms covered in pen, still scrubbing at it subconsciously. A single tear rolled down her cheek as her right hand twitched.

* * *

"Horny as a Dandy" is a mash-up of Mousse T.'s "Horny" and The Dandy Warhols' "Bohemian Like You". It was released as a single in 2006. It features vocals from Hot 'N' Juicy.

Fanfiction by Faith Valconbridge. This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	6. Precious Moments

Severus Snape had always been a patient man. As a child he was raised to be respectful of time and the fate of how things happened. So naturally as a teenager even when things were rough, Severus was patient to wait for change. Now, as a fully grown thirty-eight year old man, his patience was running thin. He was sat at his study surrounded by potions manuals and hefty volumes of ancient tomes. He sighed. Something he didn't do unless at home. He was allowing himself to fully relax for once. He looked back down into the volume he was reading, the candle light fluttered because of the open window, it was distracting but he needed to find the cure for young Mr. Malfoy.

Things were getting desperate now, he knew that after what had happened previously that day, will remain forgotten for the rest of Severus's life, even though he was thinking about it right now. But that was beside the point. Draco had petrified him. He was scared; he hadn't felt so awkward in his whole life. How was he ever going to look the boy in the face again? He felt so bad for him, he needed to help.

He stared out the window, deep in thought. He could think clearer here. He was home, in the comfort of his own house. He didn't have to worry about brats running around or disturbing him. A bang echoed from upstairs then a loud giggle and the thumping of feet as children ran. How ironic, just as he thought that, something like that had to happen.

He'd arrived home at around midday, shocking his wife but not stopping to speak. He just ran up to his study and had been in there ever since. He wasn't even aware his children had a two week holiday and were home at the moment until he had heard them moment ago. The thought of the only cute little faces that could really make his heart melt, made a smile twitch on his lips. He rubbed his tired eyes and decided maybe being impatient wasn't the best thing to do at the moment. So he walked out of the study and up the stairs to spend some time with his wife and kids. He could always go back to researching in a few hours, maybe two… Half an hour most likely.

* * *

Detention with Filch was everything the students had expected it to be and so much more. McGonagall and Dumbledore had taken it in turns to help Filch supervise them all day. Yes, ALL day. The potions students had started their detention by the time their potions class was normally just about to end. They'd been excused from all other classes that day to do it. So they had worked from 10 o'clock until dinner that night with only a break now and then.

Now what cruel punishment had they received for not preventing there professor from getting molested? An interesting one, they were cleaning the lake WITHOUT magic. A mountain of rubbish, weeds and Merlin knows what else was in piles every ten or so meters around the lake.

Pansy had been in a mood all day; Blaise was flirting wildly with the Slytherins as he swam in the water collecting things; or their lack of. Crabbe and Goyle had spent most the day trying to sneak off and follow a mermaid until Blaise had reminded them she was in fact a fish.

"But Blaise! She's part human too!" They had protested.

"But Vinny!" He whined back in the same irritating tone, mocking them. "She's got scales!"

So clearly it was no surprise that by the time everyone was at dinner most of the group was miserable. And much to the misfortune of the tired miserable people, Draco was in the best mood he'd been in all week.

"Hmm hmm hmmm…" Draco hummed quietly, a smile on his face. Everyone ignored him until Pansy slammed down her knife and fork and muttering something about her being reduced to slave labour, then everyone ignored her instead.

"Why so glum, Crabbe? Goyle? Discover that the mermaid had no reproductive organs?" Blaise asked mocking his friends… again. He would never admit that he thought she was hot too.

"Actually, no." Goyle said helping himself to more rice.

"_When will I see you again?"_ Draco sang still smiling to himself, thinking about the mystery girl.

"Yeh yeh, boys. I'm not stupid." Blaise taunted his friends. Yes he did always wind them up, but he loved them to bits really.

"_When will we share precious moments?"_ Draco sang still, huge smile for everyone to see, white teeth almost blinding Pansy. She glared at him; his happy mood was making her feel worse.

"No, it's not actually, Blaise!" Goyle continued arguing with him. "Crabbe really liked her. You can't tease him for loving someone!" Goyle exclaimed starting to get annoyed.

"_Precious moments."_ Draco was oblivious to any arguments or death glares he was receiving. He hummed under his breath as he poured himself a coffee. Draco loved coffee.

"Love?" Blaise looked at them, expression blank. "Is that was you think that was? You don't even know the meaning of the word." Blaise shook his head in disbelief.

"_When will I see you aga…_ OUCH!" Blaise had hit him with the evening paper around the head.

"DUDE! ARE YOU STUCK ON REPEAT OR SOMETHING?" Blaise yelled, ticked off at his friend.

Pansy smirked at the sight of Draco rubbing his head from across the table. She had been willing for him to shut up all the way through dinner. She silently thanked fate for helping her out.

* * *

A sorry sight met anyone who ventured to the far end of the Gryffindor table. Ron Weasley could be found dining alone, miserably picking at his food, unable to stomach anything. And although he wouldn't admit it, everyone knew why his two best friends were nowhere in sight.

From the first year of Hogwarts the three had been inseparable only ever having small spats with each other but never had all three fall out and it had never been this serious before.

Ron stared hopelessly at his food. Wishing he knew where it had all gone wrong. One minute it was him, Harry and Hermione until the very end. But now he couldn't bear the thought of staying in the same tower as them.

Hermione accused them both (meaning him and Harry) of messing with her head. Ron had been truly scared for the girl until he had realised she was right. There was nothing wrong with her, it was them. No… It was Harry.

Upon finding out the truth Ron had confronted Harry about it, only to have Harry pin the blame on him. But oh no, he was having non on that. He would ever dream of doing that to anyone, let alone Hermione. How could Harry do that to her? He must be so cold hearted to be able to do such a… unforgivable, twisted thing to one of his 'best friends' And if it had meant to be a joke. It certainly was NOT funny.

And now Hermione thought he was in on it. She'd never speak to him again. And Ron would never forgive him for that.

* * *

Between the hours of six and eight o'clock every evening, it is near impossible to get any attention from the house elves; and even more impossible to get into the kitchen in those busy hours. In less of course, your name was Harry Potter.

And although at this moment he should hate two certain people, he wasn't at all. He was grieving for them. Don't misunderstand they wasn't dead. But he HAD lost them forever.

Harry was sat on an old worn rug in front of the fire. The last place he had expected to find himself was down here, in the company of the Hogwarts house elves. Although he was glad he had ventured.

He hadn't thought they would have time for him so he was going to go just to get a drink and leave. This was until he had seen Winky in front of the fire her gaze lost in the flames, before he knew it he was sat next to her and another elf. Dobby was kindly making them hot chocolate as they wallowed in self pity.

This elf he hadn't met before, Chester had spent the last half an hour listening to Harry's sob story. At first he'd been angry at Ron for believing Hermione when she was in such a delicate state. But as this thought had entered his mind, Harry had felt an undeniable prickle in his scar. And instantly he just knew Voldemort had achieved something great. Now under any other circumstances, Harry would have gone straight to Dumbledore to report this new activity. But horror struck in Harry's heart when he realised what it was. He was 90% sure it was to do with what had just gone on a few hours ago.

And without being able to stop himself Harry burst into tears, shortly followed by Winky who felt left out. This made Harry's cries louder as he realised he was making someone else cry. So here he was half an hour later, still crying his eyes out.

"I'm a failure!" He wailed into his arms as he leaned into them crying. "How could I do this to them? I was supposed to be protecting them but I guess I tried so hard that I forgot I was a danger to!" Harry cried as Chester comforted him for the umpteenth time.

Harry looked up sniveling as Dobby refilled his mug with hot chocolate; he took time to squirt some cream onto the top before disappearing just as fast as he had reappeared. Dobby hated he couldn't stay to listen to Harry but if he didn't work all through the dinner run then he would lose money as it was Winky's birthday soon.

As Harry looked into the flames once more and took a sip of his hot chocolate, tears still running down his face; he vowed never to speak to Ron or Hermione again.

* * *

"When Will I See You Again" was a hit 1974 song performed by The Three Degrees and written and produced by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. These stories hosted on this website contain characters created and owned by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic, Inc. and AOL/Time Warner, Inc., and may incorporate characters, locations and things created and/or owned by other third parties including but not limited to Joss Whedon, George Lucas and/or Lucasfilm, Fox, Paramount, Random House, Pengun Putnam, Inc., Ballantine Books, and a lot of other people. No permission has been given and since no money is being made here, no infringement is intended.


	7. Mission Impossible

After calming down, Hermione for the first time in two hours realised the compromising position she was in. She was in library, having sat there for another half an hour after mystery boy had left. Well of course, she'd registered that, but that's not why she was in a compromising position at all. The reason for her dilemma was that she'd been too emotional to realise that she was sat in her pyjamas.

So now she was faced with the task of getting out of the library and all the way up to the tower. It was very rare that Hermione did what she was about to do, but surely the situation gave her enough reason.

"Fuck."

* * *

"I still can't believe you did that to us and got away with it. Not a detention or a… a, anything…" Pansy muttered, still in a mood. The group had finished their dinner and was drinking coffee, well; Pansy was drinking tea and eating ice cream.

"You did it to yourselves actually. I didn't tell anyone to sit there and laugh." Draco said calmly annoying Pansy even more. She was such an angry child he thought to himself, maybe he should advise her to anger management or therapy.

"If you didn't do it in the first place mate, then we wouldn't have found it hilarious." Goyle pointed out.

"Oh yeah, because I woke up that morning and thought: Hmm, I think I'll give Snape a lap dance while singing I'M HORNY at the top of my voice today, you know guys, as I normally do." Blaise smiled at Draco's sarcasm, even after something horrific like that, Draco still had his warped sense of humour.

"It's still your fault Draco, I haven't forgiven you yet. Not until you say sorry."

"Pansy, Pansy." He whispered, gesturing for her to come closer. "Now listen very carefully…" he paused as he put his mouth to her ear, (they were leaning over the table.) _"__Girl I refuse, you must have me confused with some other a guy, the bridges are burned and now it__'__s your turn to cry. So cry me a river, girl, cry me a river__…."_

SMACK!

"Cripes Pansy! Fucking hell, are you trying to give me brain damage?" Draco rubbed his head again. And glared at Pansy who was holding Blaise's rolled up newspaper, which had attacked Draco earlier.

"You DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY, are a PISS TAKE!" She yelled at him, slamming the paper back on the table. Draco tried not to laugh, he really did. "And stop laughing at me, I know very well that was NOT was of your stupid little expressions, now you're using them to mock me!"

"Oh Pansy, what makes you think you're that important that I'd go out the way to do it!" Draco said with an innocent smile. Unsurprisingly, Draco got smacked with the evening prophet a lot more before the end of dinner.

As it got to around quarter past seven Draco declared that he was going to his room because he had things to do, meaning that he wanted to write an apology to Snape. Blaise rose from the table joining Draco telling him he had places to be going and people to be doing.

"I mean seeing…" Blaisr corrected smiling, but knowing he had been caught. Draco had laughed at that slip of tongue.

Draco and Blaise hadn't really spent much time together since the whole expressions thing so this gave them both the chance to catch up, meaning think of ways to mock Pansy; as indeed, 'Pansy Mocking' was there favourite sport. They walked the long way around to the common room giving them more time to laugh together. Draco hadn't laughed so much in ages. He'd completely forgotten that Blaise was this hilarious.

But what Draco (and Blaise in this case) found even more hilarious was the sight of Granger sneaking out the library in her pyjamas, obviously trying to sneak back to her dorm.

"This is so rich," Blaise whispered then put finger to his mouth indicating Draco to be quiet then pointing at the ink covered girl, telling Draco without words to follow her. As they crept behind her, it was all too much for Draco's soul expression and his hands instantly formed into the shape of a muggle gun. Quietly, he hummed.

"_Duh duh duhduh, duh duh duhduh.__"_ Yes, that right, he was humming the mission impossible tune and the temptation was getting unbearable for Blaise. So he did was any civilised, upper class, pureblood Slytherin would do. He joined in. After all, Draco

couldn't help it, so he couldn't leave the poor lad to make a fool of himself!

So as Hermione was just about to turn the corner, Draco rolled in front of her on the floor, his 'gun' in his hand and it aiming in three directions one after the other. And Blaise stopped her from moving to check if the coast was clear.

Hermione looked at them as if they had both gone mad. But then she remembered her current sanity wasn't up to standards, so she just shrugged it off and walked past them leaving Draco humming mission impossible.

Wait? She froze in her tracks thinking. Mission Impossible was a muggle movie, how in hell would Draco Malfoy know that? She shook her head deciding to ignore it. After all it was a mad, mad world.

* * *

Later that night at around 9:15 Draco groaned as he rolled over in his sleep. He just couldn't get comfortable and was tossing and turning constantly. He'd written a letter to Snape and it had made him feel a little better. But he was still anxious to receive a reply. Now he could tell mystery girl he's apologised and she wouldn't think so badly of him. She'd seemed really shocked about the whole Snape thing.

He'd thought about her a lot before he's drifted to sleep, wondering if she really would meet him again tomorrow. And he'd even admitted to himself he did have the tiniest of crushes on her., whoever she was. He'd laid and thought of their words.

"_Will I see you around?__"_She's asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"_I suppose, you might see me every day.__" _Draco had replied.

"_And we__'__d never know.__"_Those words were haunting him. Who was this mystery girl? What did he know? She was always right about things, modest, and she was Gryffindor. He'd have to get to know her a little better tomorrow. Oh, and he'd almost forget, she'd fell out with her friends. Probably her friend thought she'd stole her mascara when in fact she hadn't, she'd lost it. Or something like that. Draco wasn't interested in stupid fights girls had. But this girl hadn't seemed stupid at all. Her words had seemed so wise.

"Crying isn't a weakness, it's a strength, being able to except that something is wrong." Draco whispered out loud to himself. Draco hated crying and had always thought it was weak. Maybe he was wrong because she had sounded so right.

He felt a little bad, turning his head to the side he stared at the bump under a quilt which was Blaise asleep. Blaise had been a very good friend to him, and if he fancied someone he was always the first to know. And it had been a two way agreement to be able to confine in each other. But she was a Gryffindor.

"_Everyone has a secret, but can you keep it?__"_ Would Blaise keep it? He might tell Pansy, then the whole school would know. Not that Pansy was a gossiper, not at all. She would just yell at him until there was only a blob of humiliated Draco-goop on the Great Hall floor. _"__Oh no, they can__'__t.__"_

Friends didn't tell each other everything anyway. It wouldn't matter and it wasn't as if anything would ever happen with this girl, nothing would come of it anyway.

He smiled half dazed, dreaming of a girl in Gryffindor uniform. He couldn't see her face, but that didn't matter because in his dreams he knew the smell of her hair, the taste of her lips and how her hand felt in his. He drifted into a proper sleep comfortable for the first time that night. Feeling fully relaxed since the earlier that night when he had seen her.

Severus had been wrong in thinking seeing his kids and wife would distract him. He was currently sat in the nursery, a two year old asleep in his arms, a 6 year old and an 8 year old playing wizard snap. And of course his wife snuggling into him on the couch. He'd only been at school a few months but Merlin how he had missed them.

His wife was quietly reading through a book for him as he smoked a cigarette, holding tightly to his little boy making sure the smoke didn't go on him.

As soon as Jacob had fallen asleep and Amelia and Robert had started playing snap, he had explained the whole thing to his wife Arazona. And so she had listened intently, laughing at the last incident and had agreed to help him. After all her husband was over worked and underpaid and she wanted him to relax a while. So she was sat reading an Expressions book to him in the candle light. This went on for about 25 minutes, both Severus and Arazona enjoying their comfortable embrace, until their maid Taylor informed them a Malfoy had sent a letter.

Severus had been hesitant to open it, not knowing which Malfoy it was from by the wax seal. And the older Malfoy was never polite by post, well, any of the time really. But he was relieved to find it was in fact from Draco. He smiled lightly as he read the letter out loud to his wife, careful not to wake Jacob.

_Professor Snape,_

_It__'__s Draco, don__'__t worry I__'__m not writing to attack you verbally or to complain. You may be a bit surprised by this, as I__'__m normally stubborn but I want to apologise. Even though it wasn__'__t my fault what happened earlier today I do feel responsible for what happened. And I__'__m sorry for putting you in such a__…__ inappropriate position. And I can__'__t thank you enough for removing the potion; I doubt anyone else could have figured what was wrong with me._

_And by the way sir, you__'__ll be please to know that your potions class, minus Potter, Weasley and Granger, and myself, were out into a full day detention of cleaning out the lake! We can only imagine how vile it must have been, so I__'__m sure that will brighten your spirits! _

_I hope to see you back in school soon sir and happy and healthy, and hopefully not TOO mentally scarred. Sorry again professor._

_Enjoy your break from school._

_._

_Ps. I__'__ll keep you updated on my soul expressions._

"Draco's such a lovely boy Severus but I'm afraid I'll never be able to look at him the same ever again." Arazona giggled, a smile playing on her lips.

"It wasn't you that had his 'wand' pressed against your stomach." Severus replied, he couldn't help but smile though, no matter how embarrassing it was for him, he was sure Draco would be suffering more. He always had that to make him feel better. "Anyway, let's swiftly change subject. Back to the potion."

"Severus you're not getting anywhere, we're going to be here all night, why don't you research the spell." Arazona advised. Severus 'hmmm' ed, Arazona sighed and went to get another book from the library.

While she was gone Amelia and Robert soon filled her place on the sofa. Not he like was complaining.

"Why are you home so early, daddy?" His middle child Amelia asked.

"And why are you children not at school. I bet you knew I was home didn't you and you're skiving school to see me." He teased them. They giggled.

"No we're not father, promise," Said Robert. He was the spitting image of Severus, minus the crooked nose from it being broken about 60 times and the greasy hair from working with potions. "We've got a two week break off school, it's a holiday."

"Oh. Well, I'm home because Draco Malfoy is a bit poorly and I need to help him." Their father replied to them.

"Oh, will he be okay daddy? I like Draco." Amelia said looking a tad upset.

"He'll be fine sweety, now shouldn't you children be in bed?" He looked at them stern but he couldn't resist smiling at their sleepy faces and just mentally shrugged as they snuggled into him. And soon he couldn't resist any longer and fell to sleep holding the best things that had ever happened to him closely never wanting to let go.

He didn't feel his wife watching them sound asleep on the settee. She smiled from the doorway clutching a book to her chest. She loved them all so dearly and Severus was so exhausted from work that she decided to switch the roles for a while and walked into her husband's study, vowing to find something useful by morning.

* * *

When Draco woke up the next morning he was feeling unnaturally happy. He had dreamt of his mystery girl. If this would have been happening to him a few weeks back, he wouldn't have dared to think and feel what he was doing now. But this potion was changing him, he knew that and he loved it.

Such a euphoric feeling was sending his Soul Expression crazy and it insisted Draco woke his friends up to join in his happiness.

"_WAKE UP IT__'__S A BEAUTIFUL MORNING!__"_ Draco sang as he jumped up and down pulling up his trousers. Blaise shot up in bad at the loud voice that had just invaded his mind, Crabbe and everyone else slept on.

"Draco, you twat!" He swore as he lay back down and turned over putting a pillow over his head as Draco sang.

"But Blaise!" his voice mumbled from underneath a jumper being pulled over his head. Blaise lifted the pillow to be greeted with the sight of Draco dancing around the dormitory singing, _"__I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and,__"_

"Draco shut the fuck up. " Blaise said sharply before plopping the pillow back on his head.

"_AND GAY!__"_ Draco sang louder as he skipped into the bathroom, imitating an opera singer.

"MALFOY! It's 6:45 in the morning!" Blaise's voice shouted through the pillow.

"_I feel charming! Oh so charming! It's alarming, how charming I feel! And so pretty! That I hardly can believe I'm real!"_ Draco continued.

Theodore Nott, the 5th roommate, listened quietly to Blaise and Draco arguing so early in the morning. He sat and laughed to himself about Draco singing such… gay songs. He smiled. Thank god he never got close to his dorm mates. He had a huge feeling at was going to be a long day for Draco's friends. But Theodore, being the true Slytherin he was just laughed. This was a good start to the day. Oh, this was a brilliant start, he had a feeling things were going so well.

* * *

"Cry Me a River" is the second single from Justin Timberlake's solo debut album Justified. Released on December 17, 2002, the single, which features guest vocals and production by Timbaland & Scott Storch. The original Mission:Impossible theme music was written by Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, and Michael Giacchino. "I feel pretty" is from West Side Story which is an American musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. "Wake Up" was by Boo Radlay.

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. These stories hosted on this website contain characters created and owned by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic, Inc. and AOL/Time Warner, Inc., and may incorporate characters, locations and things created and/or owned by other third parties including but not limited to Joss Whedon, George Lucas and/or Lucasfilm, Fox, Paramount, Random House, Penguin Putnam, Inc., Ballantine Books, and a lot of other people. No permission has been given and since no money is being made here, no infringement is intended.


	8. Intermission with Snape

The morning bought the usual cold and lonely feeling that made Severus want to pull the duvet over his head. That was until he realised he was at home and he automatically reached over to the other side of the bed searching for his sweetheart that was normally there. Finding the space empty he sat up, his hair sticking up and all tangled, his eyes half open and a look of pure confusion on his pale face. Unknown to him Arazona would have found this adorable, especially as he yawned scratching the back of his head and looking around the room.

He stretched gracefully and stumbled out of his bedroom looking for his wife, it must be about 6 am and there was no reason for her to be out of bed. As he walked down the corridor he opened every set of curtains that he passed, the hallway flooded with light. He walked through the hall in nothing but a pair of baggy low rise pyjama pants. He walked upstairs to the second floor. He avoided all the floor boards that creaked so he wouldn't wake his children up as he tip toed past their bedrooms opening their doors slowly checking if Arazona was there.

He remembered falling asleep on the couch with Jacob, Amelia and Robert and he remembered Arazona wasn't there. Around about 2 am he'd woke up with a crick in his neck and picked up his kids one by one tucking them into bed. Then had managed to untangle himself from his pompous robes and pull on the slacks. Come to think of it, had Arazona been there when he collapsed on the bed? Well he wouldn't have known as he was snoring by the time his head hit the pillow.

"Oops," He whispered to himself. Well the next place after the children's rooms he should look was the kitchen; she might be having an early breakfast. He walked down the two flights of stairs and into a completely empty kitchen. He walked into the dining room, nope not there. So his suspicions getting the better of him, he walked back upstairs to the first floor, where the study, 2nd lounge, his bedroom and bathroom were. Upstairs was the kids' floor to put it bluntly.

He walked right to the end of the corridor where his study was to find his wife asleep still fully dressed in yesterday's clothes, leant back in his chair feet up and trying to snuggle into the back of the seat. Parchment and books littered his desk and he stared at her tired face, there was no doubt she'd been awake all night. His heart melted, she really was heaven sent. He sat on the desk slightly to the side of her; he picked up some of the parchment flicking through it. He smiled admiring her, his eyes flicked from the parchment to her, he put it back down. He didn't know what he must have done in a past life to deserve her but it was something bloody huge he was guessing.

He had met Arazona at school; she was a year younger than him, a Ravenclaw actually. Very smart, witty and just… beautiful. Severus had wanted her thinking it was no harm to dream. Until before he knew it he had her and then they were living together. Then they were married and had 3 beautiful children. The years had passed so quickly.

He stared at her pale face, they were alike in many way. Yes, they were both obsessed with potions, worshipped their children and hated Voldemort, but who didn't? Well, apart from the potions bit, maybe. But the attraction was much deeper than that.

When he first met her he was startled by her beauty and she still took his breath away every day. He didn't know what she was doing with someone like him, he wasn't exactly good looking. But she made him feel beautiful as… stupid as it sounds. She did! She'd done what no one else would dare too, she let herself see the real him and she'd feel in love. He'd done the exact same, he'd let someone into that icy heart of his. Well, it had been melting for years now.

Arazona was petite and around 5 foot 3; she had straight brown hair and hazel eyes and to Severus she was walking perfection. When she did little things like this for him, it possibly made him fall deeper in love with her. He couldn't resist any longer and leant forward pressing an achingly soft kiss to her lips, her eyes fluttered as she woke up recognising the feel of him and she kissed back. She wished she could wake up like this every morning. Alarm bells went off in her head as she remembered something form last night.

"Snemmerus!" He pulled away, kissing her nose as she had been trying to talk and kiss at the same time. It wasn't advisable to do, between kisses maybe, in them… Nooo. "Erm, where is it?" She picked up the notes she had been writing last night. "I found out something interesting last night, listen to this." She looked into his eyes telling him silently to really listen closely; she leaned onto him while reading.

"The_ soul expressions spell, if cast incorrect can have a large amount of risks caused to the surrounding people, the person it is cast on, or even the caster. As the spell is easily reflected it is advisable not to do it in crowded places. Even the small amount of anything metal that gets in the way of the spell, a portion of it may reflect off the object and be cast on several people. Although it will not be as strong, it can still work fully. Depending on how much of the spell hits another person depends on how strong the person will have a soul expression also. The fault with this is that it is impossible to trace the spell on anyone, only if the potion in evident in the blood stream can it be traced. In many cases people have lived with a soul expression there whole life not aware, although, if only the spell is present on a person, it can be removed. See page 133 for more information."_ She paused.

"_With everyone's sole expression varying very dramatically, it is almost impossible to find someone with the spell. Although people with them can have a dramatic change in behaviour. With the spell only cast, it is only cast onto the outside of the person's body and does not invade there mind fully. After completing an 'expression' the barer might not even remember doing there 'expression' but as always advised, anyone with soul expression should be monitored as moods such as depression, hate, anger and revenge should be avoided at all costs due to the depth they would be feeling it. A person with only the spell feels everything 10 times stronger than a normal person, whereas someone with both potion and spell feels it 15 times. The spell and potion are not advised to be used on their own, it is almost essential to use both as the barer can become so scared at their weird behaviour that they can go mad or risk their own lives because the spell is not controlling their mind and thoughts of reasoning, only there body. See page 147 for more information." _Arazona stopped reading waiting for his response.

"So you're telling me, there could be other kids that have got it on them?" Snape sighed, starting to feel a bit panicked. "How far can if reflect to?" he asked, deep in thought, he pulled Arazona close hugging her tight.

"It didn't say."

"So you're telling me, people as far as the Gryffindor table could have a soul expression on them, and no-one would be any wiser?"

"Unfortunately, Severus, yes," She mumbled into his shoulder.

"I think I best write Dumbledore." She pulled out the embrace.

"Yeah you do that sweety, and to Draco too, I'll go make you some coffee and get a painkiller, you might need it later."

* * *

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. These stories hosted on this website contain characters created and owned by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic, Inc. and AOL/Time Warner, Inc., and may incorporate characters, locations and things created and/or owned by other third parties including but not limited to Joss Whedon, George Lucas and/or Lucasfilm, Fox, Paramount, Random House, Penguin Putnam, Inc., Ballantine Books, and a lot of other people. No permission has been given and since no money is being made here, no infringement is intended.


	9. Come fly with me

Draco had been shocked to find that as soon as he'd tried to tuck into his breakfast he was being dragged away by the screaming captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team and shoved to the exit in the great hall, Pansy and Blaise staring after them in confusion.

"Malfoy, you shit! What's with you? You've never missed practice! Where the fuck's your kit? You do realise we have a match in 2 hours! Where the fuck have you been?" He spat into Draco's face. Poor Draco tried not to cringe.

Where had he been? Hmm… Well, the first thing that came to his mind was the image of him dancing in the dorm as he got dressed and singing into his hairbrush. But he wasn't sure whether an explanation involving 'I'm so pretty' would do him any good. So he just shrugged and studied his nails, acting as though he was not interested.

"Well, here's the thing, Draco," The captain said talking calmly to him; Draco ignored the fact he was talking to him as though he was an infant. "Well, there are 7 players on a Quidditch team and it just so happens that includes you, the seeker, now Draco; I know you probably don't know this… BUT YOU'RE THE GOD DAMNED MOST IMPORTANT PLAYER! NO SEEKER, NO GAME! SO GET YOUR SCRAWNY ARSE INTO THE LOCKER ROOMS AND I EXPECT TO SEE YOU ON THE PITCH, IN FULL UNIFORM IN 10 MINUTES!" And with that he stormed off leaving Draco with a strange expression on his face.

"YEH… WELL…" Draco was lost for words. "MAYBE I DON'T WANNA PUT ON MY UNIFORM, EVER THINK OF THAT, EY!" He yelled to the retreating back of his captain. "MAYBE IM TO SEXY FOR YOUR GAY UNIFORM!" Draco yelled, leaning back against the doorway, everyone at the house tables staring at him.

Tingle…

Swirl….

"Shit." Draco walked out the hall singing, "I'm too sexy for your shirt, and to sexy for your shirt so sexy it hurts! And I'm too sexy for your…" Unsurprisingly, the entire hall thought he had gone mad.

Hermione woke up on Saturday morning, silently willing her day to end already. She couldn't be bothered with facing anyone at the moment, and it was only ten am.

Last night when she had finally got back to her dorm, minus the help of that Zabini bloke and Malfoy; she had showered changed and went to bed early. But her dreams had been plagued with a Slytherin boy, some poems wrote in blood and Harry and Ron yelling at her telling her it was all her fault. But her faceless Slytherin Mystery Boy had just been repeating in that hushed tone she recognised him by.

"_Hermione, it's all a misunderstanding, it is nobody's fault. You've all got it wrong!"_

Hermione, suddenly remembering this, sat up in bed. Why had those words stood out so clearly in her head? The mystery boy had said something similar to her yesterday.

"Maybe it's neither of you and it's a misunderstanding," She repeated his words from last night. Surely, he couldn't be right? But Hermione knew her subconscious often picked up things, never letting her forget things or the smallest of details. Maybe, just maybe this mystery boy was right.

And with that she jumped out of bed and started heading for the library. Thankfully, she remembered to get dressed into something more… well… anything but her pyjamas.

Draco was never nervous when flying, he absolutely loved it. But today, he was scared out of his wits. Not because of the match but because of the flying. Every time he tried to even touch his broom a familiar tingle swept over his voice box and a swirl twisted it's way though his stomach. So he was still sat in the locker room, fully uniformed with all the necessary protective Quidditch armour strapped to his body. He gazed down at his gloved hands… his shaking gloved hands.

"That's it! I can't do it! Morgan, MORGAN!" Draco yelled walking onto the pitch.

"Draco, I explained this earlier. But sorry, my mistake I forget to tell you! YOU NEED A BROOM TO FLY!" The furious captain barked at Draco, his eyes following the other players doing laps around the pitch.

"Look Morgan." He said, trying to keep his voice steady. "Look, I really don't think I can play today. I'm not feeling so good, I just," Draco couldn't speak anymore. His soul expression was making everything so hard for him and now he was getting emotional. Malfoy's don't get emotional!

"Malfoy, you ARE playing this match! And don't you dare turn on the waterworks! What are you, a Deatheater or a dark lord?"

"You'll get yourself killed using that expression. I advise you stick to the muggle 'man or mouse' thing." Draco pointed out, his arrogance returning to him.

"Draco, just answer my question!" Morgan said exasperated he was so tired with Draco. And he was rapidly losing his patience with the boy.

"Neither, I want to be my own person." Draco mumbled.

"Well, sorry to inform you it doesn't work that way. There are two types of people, the Deatheaters, those influenced by people, people who do as they are told, just get on with life. And there are the dark lords; the ones who influence people and stand up for what they believe and will do anything to get what they want. Now what are you?"

"What about the Gryffindors? They aren't death eaters or dark lords. Why can't I be one of them?" Draco slipped before he could stop himself.

"Draco, it's a figure of speech but if it makes you feel better then take Potter for example, he's a dark lord. Well, not literally, but he leads and influences people, he takes charge and does what he needs to do. Understand? Now, what are you? Best hurry up and decide, but either way you're playing this match. If you're a Deatheater you'll get your arse into gear and if you're a dark lord you know I'm right. Now scram! Get your broom!" Morgan yelled, turning his attention back to the team. He hadn't left the discussion open for Draco. Draco sighed.

He walked down the pitch and back into the locker room, cursing the whole way. But he wasn't a 'Deatheater' or a 'Dark lord' he was his own person and it just so happened this person was infected with a Soul Expression. Draco smirked as he closed his hand around his broom and a familiar feeling into his stomach.

* * *

Hermione was sat in the library surrounded by books on confusion and memory loss, because after all it was the only thing she could pin point wrong at the moment. She was sat at a table staring out at the Quidditch pitch. She knew there was a game on today, Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff she thought, not positive though. Harry and Ron would both be there, she knew that and that was one of the reasons she didn't go. Well she didn't need to really; she knew that Malfoy would catch the snitch anyway. He always did, well unless he was up against Harry then he didn't stand a chance. She couldn't help but smile at that thought.

She looked back down at the text in front of her, to her dismay she was still at the table of content. She hadn't been sure what to read and it would be such a… task to read it all. As much as she hated to admit it, she couldn't be bothered.

That was another thing she couldn't understand lately. She was always exhausted and she just couldn't be bothered with doing things. Okay, that was lie, she always felt like that, but the weird thing was that was now when she was tired she slept and when she couldn't be bothered she just didn't do it.

Yesterday, after Harry and Ron had left her, she had gone up to her dorm meaning to revise but she just… didn't. She wanted to but it was almost as though her body was disobeying her commands. Which was impossible, she knew that. But it just felt that way.

Another thing, these past few days it felt as if all she did was sleep. That night she was ill, she'd slept from around eight until 10:50 then a huge chunk of her memory was missing but she woke at eight am. And when Ron and Harry made her have the day off and she'd slept from ten am until at least four! After meeting mystery boy she'd managed to sleep from nine last night until ten this morning, she couldn't understand it.

Maybe she should just go and see Pomfrey. Then she remembered her reaction to finding her and Draco in bed together, that was only two short days ago, and just… no.

"Maybe not then." Hermione then went to get another book.

* * *

Meanwhile at the Quidditch match Draco was having the time of his life! Currently he was dancing while balancing on his broom. He'd stolen the commentator's microphone and was enjoying singing to his 'audience' desperately trying to get Madam Hooch to dance with him.

"_Come fly with me! Lets fly lets fly away!"_ Draco sang in his classy pretty impressive voice, wiggling his eyebrows at Madam Hooch. "Oh come on Hoochy! Lighten up!" he said grabbing her arm.

"Mr. Malfoy!" She struggled and blew her whistle but the players carried on playing and Draco carried on singing.

"_If you could use some exotic booze…"_ Draco was really milking the crowd, everyone was finding it hilarious. Well… apart from Pansy.

"Surely, headmaster! Can you tell Mr. Malfoy to stop this nonsense?" Madam Hooch declared flying up to the teachers stand.

"Actually... No. There is nothing in the rules that say the seeker cannot use singing or dancing as a diversion so really all we can do is sit back and watch." Albus said calmly.

"ALBUS!" Minerva McGonagall scolded. "I'm sure I know what is wrong with Mr. Malfoy and you are encouraging it! Stop him this instant!"

"Fair point professor…" He sighed, standing up. "Mr. Malfoy!" No answer, Draco continued. "MR. MALFOY!"

"Fly, let's fly away…"

"MR MALFOY! WOULDN'T PROFESSOR SNAPE LOOK CHARMING IN A TUTU?" This certainly caught Draco's attention and bought him out of his expression so fast he almost fell off his broom.

Professor Dumbledore motioned for him to follow him. He needed to speak to him anyway and some other students. Albus hated to admit it, but he needed their help.

* * *

"I'm Too Sexy" is a song by English trio Right Said Fred from their album Up. "Come Fly with Me" is a 1957 popular song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn. "Come Fly with Me" was written for Frank Sinatra, and was the title track of his 1958 album of the same name.

Fanfiction is by Faith stories hosted on this website contain characters created and owned by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic, Inc. and AOL/Time Warner, Inc., and may incorporate characters, locations and things created and/or owned by other third parties including but not limited to Joss Whedon, George Lucas and/or Lucasfilm, Fox, Paramount, Random House, Pengun Putnam, Inc., Ballantine Books, and a lot of other people. No permission has been given and since no money is being made here, no infringement is intended.


	10. One of Us

Draco and company, as well as Potter and Weasley, had just spent the past twenty minutes sitting in the office with Dumbledore while he explained about a letter Professor Snape had sent.

Draco was a little annoyed that the two Gryffindors were getting in on the big secret but he supposed it was because they could probably help them out. He hated to admit it, but they usually did miraculous things like… foil Voldemorts plans and slay basilisks and open secret chambers, you know generally save the world now and then. The usual really, a potion would be nothing to them. Draco promised to himself he would not let that happen though, he had to beat Potter at something.

"So you're telling me, Malfoy has this 'Soul Expression' cast on him that can't be removed and while it was being cast it could have reflected and hit someone else. And you have no idea how many people it has affected?" Ron asked, looking surprised.

"I hadn't even noticed Malfoy had anything wrong with him, no offence, Malfoy." Harry said turning to Draco as an afterthought.

"Well, no offence Potter, but if you hadn't noticed I've been singing my heart out all this week! Are you deaf or just plain ignorant?" Draco shot back.

"Now you see here, Malfoy," Ron growled starting to stand up, Blaise who was sat by him pushed him back down staring daggers at him. No-one would hurt a friend in front of him. No-one.

"Boys, boys, calm down, I need you co-operate. Have any of you noticed any strange behaviour amongst your fellow pupils? Draco was affected first on Thursday and it's now Saturday, so in that timescale have you witnessed anything strange?" Dumbledore questioned.

Harry and Ron who had been sitting at opposite ends of the office ignoring each other exchanged a glance but said nothing.

"Well then, in that case I need you seven to keep a close eye on your house mates and even students from other houses. No-one can know about this, especially since Mr. Malfoy has already been a target. We can't be putting more students in danger. Do you understand? And I don't want any of you fighting." He looked at them all individually take time to look into their eyes one by one. "You all need to co-operate. Do I have your word?" Everyone nodded, all very stubbornly, but they still nodded all the same.

As the seven left the office, they all split off in different directions, Draco and Blaise went back to the dormitories, and Pansy went to the library while Crabbe and Goyle strolled down to the great Hall. This left Harry and Ron looking at anything but each other.

"Look I," They both said at the same time. Ron smiled at Harry, waiting for him to continue.

"Do you want to go down to the kitchens? I think we have a lot to talk about." They both walked down in the direction of the floor the kitchen was on. When they got to the portrait they completed the usual ritual of ticking the pear, they sat down in front of the fire like Harry had done the other day.

Harry leaned back on his hands with his legs out straight in front of him crossed. Ron was sat crossed legged picking at the rug they were sat on. With a 'pop' Dobby appeared in front of Harry.

"Is there anything I can be getting you Mr. Harry Potter, sir? Some hot chocolate again, maybe?" Dobby asked, bowing to Harry.

"Erm, yeah, that would be nice thank you, Dobby."

"Anything you wish Mr. Harry Potter, Dobby would also like to apologise for not being able to talk to you the other day, it is just that Dobby is saving up to get Winky a new uniform he is." Dobby said to him looking very sorry, his huge eyes kind of gave him the effect of 'puppy dog eyes'.

"It's fine, Dobby, do thank Chester, though."

"Oh, Chester was honoured he was, you cried on his shirt, he is saying he is never to wash it, being blessed with your tears on him." Okay, Harry thought that was kind of creepy but never the less, he had helped him, and he was a house elf after all, they all were a bit creepy…

"Oh, right. Erm, Ron do you want anything?" Harry said turning to Ron, but before he could answer Dobby had 'popped' away with his nose up in the air. "DOBBY YOU WILL GET RON SOME TOO!" Dobby who was in the cupboard muttered something indistinguishable, but Harry knew he wouldn't dare disobey him anyway.

A second later Dobby appeared with two mugs of hot chocolate and gave Harry his and put Ron's on the floor then disappeared again. Harry cast him a look to say sorry. There was a silence for a while they both sipped there drinks.

"So…" Ron said staring into the fire. They were both awkward.

"I came here when we fell out you know," Harry said smiling to himself, still staring into the fire. "I made a vow never to speak to you both ever again."

"Look about that, I'm sorry, Harry…"

"Ron, just hear me out. I, when I came down here, by the time I'd cried everything out and sat and thought about it, I was so sure you were right; I still think you are." Harry avoided looking at his friend.

"Harry, are you telling me it was you that cast the spell?" No matter how much Ron stared at Harry he didn't turn and look but stared into the fire still.

"Well, yes, no. I don't know! That's the thing, I was talking to Chester and Winky and was just… bitching I guess, and when I was explaining what had happened to Hermione, my scar tingled. It was HIM Ron, and after that I've been convinced he's been like possessing me or something. It's too much of a coincidence that right at that moment, right after me and you guys fought, my scar hurt. And I don't know what's happening to me!" Harry said, obviously stressed biting on his bottom lip, his fringe was long and covered his eyes, so Ron couldn't tell whether he was crying or not.

"Wow wow wow Harry mate, calm down. Just think about what you're saying for a bit. Just because you scar hurt don't mean you've been poisoning people." Ron said in a rush to reassure his friend.

"Poison? I didn't say anything about poison." Harry whispered.

"I meant the lust potion Malfoy got put on him, it just doesn't add up. You were with me when someone did that to him, we were walking 'Mione to the dorm remember and when Malfoy first started singing you were sat next to me, you didn't even have your wand with you!" Ron tried to convince Harry; he put down his hot chocolate for a second.

"I… I didn't, did I?" Harry sniffled.

"No, mate," Ron grinned.

"Yeah, but I'm sure I had something to do with it! I just… my scar… He was happy, he'd accomplished something, I know it." Harry hadn't moved his eyes from the fire.

"Well, what did Dumbledore say?" Harry winced and looked down guiltily. "You did tell him didn't you, Harry?" Harrys new found interest of his trouser belt confirmed Ron's suspicions. "Harry, you're a fool. Why didn't you tell him?"

"I don't know? What if it was me who'd done this? Then I'd be expelled!" Harry argued back, getting all emotional over it. He hated to think he's been messing with people's minds.

"Harry, you're a twat sometimes! Don't you remember second year? My sister went around helping dear old Voldy and didn't get expelled, because it wasn't willingly she did it, and even if it is you, you're not doing it on purpose! So it's okay. Dumbledore wouldn't do that to you!" Ron said, emphasising each point that had said.

Harry pushed his glasses back up his nose and turned to Ron smiling slightly. "Thanks mate, I guess I needed to hear that. Now let's just forget what's happened, we need to help Hermione out." Harry said sipping some more of his chocolate.

"Yeah, def." Ron replied staring into the fire, he found it strangely peaceful; maybe that's why Harry had bought him here.

"So, she definitely has a Soul Expression I'm sure of it. I mean all those poems and all that writing. Hermione loves writing so that's got to be her expression hasn't it. But how are we going to tell her? She avoided us all last night and this morning she wasn't at the Quidditch match. At least, I didn't see her." Harry thought for a moment. "Who do you think she's been hanging around with?"

"Harry, this is 'Mione were on about, she doesn't have friends." Harry shrugged sipping his drink again.

"Yeah and neither do we, it's always just been the three of us really hasn't it, right since first year."

"Suppose so."

"We need to help her Ron, you heard what Dumbledore said, it's dangerous just to have the just spell on her."

"It's dangerous to have it on you anyway." Ron pointed out. Harry nodded, guilt rising in his stomach. "It wasn't you Harry it wasn't okay. Trust me. Just trust me."

* * *

Ron was right in saying Hermione was not hanging around with anyone else. She had stayed in the library all day researching but she hadn't found anything. So she just sat and read a few books shed been meaning to check out for a while, still in the same space she had been earlier she'd read and stared out the window. She could easily see the Quidditch pitch from here, the match was short, she had noticed earlier. She knew it had been cancelled halfway through because a bunch of Hufflepuffs were complaining about something Malfoy had done but she really didn't have much interest in anything he did. She had more important things to deal with.

She hadn't felt anything so far today, she hadn't written anything random or disturbing. And she hadn't felt that weird swirl in her stomach either, which was one thing to be thankful of.

Maybe she had just imagined it all? No, there wasn't a chance of that. She'd written a list of all the changes she was feeling. That included: intense feeling (but she's blamed that on hormones) nausea, (well she was ill the other night), exhaustion (Harry and Ron had warned her working so hard would catch up with her). Everything she came up with had another explanation. That's why she had given up so easy. She couldn't be bothered with it. That's what she was telling herself anyway, ignoring the voice in her head saying that was part of it too.

When it got to ten minutes to four, she stood up and moved over to the bookcase she had sat against yesterday. She knew she was being silly thinking Mystery Boy would turn up. But she didn't have anyone else to talk too and she'd really enjoyed his company last night. She just wished she knew who he was.

It got to quarter past four and she still hadn't heard anyone sit at the other side and it wasn't until around half past that she heard or rather felt someone sit down. Her mystery boy had fell backward and hit a few book causing them to fall out the shelf her side.

"Shit!" he cursed under his breath. Hermione turned around looking through the gap where the books had been, all she could see was his cloak. She sighed, they were too low down and he was leaning against it anyway.

"Are you okay, mystery boy?" She whispered.

"Sorry I'm late Mystery girl, busy day you know, I bought you some tea, turn around." Hermione moved and saw a sealed beaker hovering in the gap, she smiled. She tried to look for anything that might give him away. Nothing, he was pale, had slender hands, and was wearing a silver ring on his middle finger of his right hand. Where had she seen that ring?

"I haven't poisoned it you know. I don't tend to go around killing strangers." he whispered. Hermione smiled and took the tea off him and turned back around.

"Thank you, for the tea." she muttered taking a sip.

"It's alright, I thought maybe would could stay a bit longer today?" he whispered back.

"Oh."

"Well, that's if you've got nothing to do, I mean you don't-" Draco rambled on.

"I'd love too." She answered knowing of his embarrassment.

Silence.

"So?" he whispered again.

"'So' what?" she asked.

"Dunno, just so."

"Just so, ey? "

"Yes."

Silence.

"Mystery boy?"

"Yes?" he whispered back.

"Can I ask you something personal?" She said, she didn't want to pry to much.

"Depends what it is… but then, I can tell you anything right?" He sounded a little unsure.

"Yeah, I suppose. I mean, I don't even know who you are."

"I suppose." Draco muttered. What possibly was she going to ask him?

"Well, I was wondering about your ring. Is it what I think it is? You must be in a very high in the social hierarchy." She whispered. She felt… weird, someone extremely upper class and pureblood; she now knew, was talking to her, a muggle born. That's if she was correct about the ring.

"Oh, my ring?" Draco fingered the ring on his middle finger; it had been there since his thirteenth birthday. "Yeah, it is, no sex before marriage." He whispered.

"Well then, who's the lucky lady, I'm presuming it's all arranged?" Hermione felt strangely disappointed. He had sounded a little sad at the mention of the ring.

"I don't know, I've never met her. I won't see her until the wedding day, then I get to take this ring off on my wedding night, when I have to.. You know?"

Silence.

"That's so sad." Hermione whispered quietly cupping her hands around the warm beaker.

Draco shrugged but then realised she couldn't see him. "I didn't use to think so, but these past few days, I've doubted everything I've ever been taught. Is that bad?"

"Not at all, we all have doubts sometimes. Even me…"

Silence.

"Have you made up with your friends yet?"

"No. I haven't seen them all day; they were probably at the Quidditch match."

Draco stiffened.

"Were you there, mystery girl?" Draco whispered, wishing the answer would be no.

"No."

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"I've been at the library all day." She continued.

"Oh, do you like it here?" he questioned. Draco had finished his coffee; he placed the beaker on the floor and reached into his pocket pulling out a chocolate bar he had also got from the kitchens. He hoped Madam Pince didn't come down this isle; she'd have his guts for garters.

"I suppose." She whispered, taking time to answer, thinking. "It's peaceful, not many people come here."

"Well, it is good for privacy. I mean, I hardly ever get any privacy, people are always watching me and I just hate I have to always keep up appearances you know? There's always someone I've got to impress, and I haven't been caring these past few days it been… interesting, but I feel happier than I have in ages."

"Sounds like your pressured mystery boy; you shouldn't care what other people think, as long as you're happy with yourself that's all that should matter really."

"Hmm." He wasn't sure whether he agreed or not, but it did make sense in a weird way. He looked down at the chocolate bar he'd been breaking into squares, and then ripped the paper in half so the separate pieces were in two different halves. "Do you like chocolate mystery girl?"

"If I didn't I wouldn't be a real girl would I? All girls love chocolate." She answered instantly turning around. This boy, whoever he was, was so sweet. On the shelf behind her, half a bar of chocolate was laying. She picked it up and turned back around.

"I take it you visited the kitchens?"

"Oh, so you're not a goody-goody then, if you know how to get into the kitchens."

"I didn't say that, mystery boy."

"No goody-goody would know how to get into the kitchens, maybe you're naughtier than you know, mystery girl." Draco joked

She giggled. Draco sat up straight. That sounded so familiar.

"Maybe I am then."

Silence… it was comfortable, both were munching on their chocolate.

"I.. I feel like I've known you forever, you're making me… dunno, I just really trust you and I hardly know you." Draco said starting to get all sentimental. Stupid expression, he thought silently.

Hermione smiled.

"Yeah I feel the same." She replied. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Sure." Draco said shocked that he was so trusted. His throat started to tingle slowly. "Not now!" He cursed under his breath.

"What? I beg your pardon!" Hermione said quietly quite offended.

"Not you, I," Draco apologised.

Silence.

Then what Hermione heard next made her heart melt, it was undeniable that her mystery boy was singing.

"_I wake up in the morning, and put on my face, the one that's gonna get me through another day. Doesn't really matter, how I feel inside, this life is like a game sometimes. But then you came around me, the walls just disappeared. With nothing to surround me and keep me from my fears_." Draco sang under his breath, his eyes welling up with tears, he pulled his legs up and wrapped his arms them. He leaned his forehead on his knees.

On the other side of the bookcase, Hermione had turned around and was facing the books, listening intently to the quiet hum of the boy singing. She was barely catching the words, but she knew the song. This bought a thoughtful smile to her face.

"_I'm unprotected, see how I've opened up? You've made me trust. I've never felt like this before, I'm naked around you. Does it show? You see right through me and I can't hide, I'm naked around you and it feels so right_."

Silence.

She thought he's stopped but then she heard him again.

"_I'm trying to remember, why I was afraid to be myself and let the, covers fall away. I guess I never had someone like you. To help me fit in my skin."_

Silence.

…

Sob.

Hermione gasped.

"Are you okay Mystery boy, don't cry!" She said shocked at his actions.

"Yeah, I'm just a little emotional. I'm not a poof or anything I just, oh there's no point. If I tell you something you can't tell anyone. Swear on it." Draco said louder than he meant.

"I swear, please just let me help. Try calm down." Hermione said soothingly.

"I've got a Soul Expressions spell on me, if you know what that is; basically I'm just feeling everything really strong so that's probably why I'm crying. And I don't normally go around singing… just… now. I just..."

"You can't lie." Hermione whispered.

Silence.

Sob.

"Look, Mystery girl, I'm really sorry I can't help it." Draco cried on, starting to get frustrated with himself. Hermione was just overwhelmed with so many feelings she couldn't recognise them all.

She was still staring at the books, well the gap, where could see a black cloak. She shuffled closer to the shelf and moved a pile of books that were on the floor level. She could see the boys hand leant on the floor and hesitantly reached forward and placed her hand over the top.

Draco jumped, and looked down at the hand over his. A hand darker in shade than his, no rings, no bracelets or nail polish. This girl wasn't like the rest, he liked it. He opened his fingers and she laced hers inside his. He wiped his eyes on his cloak and moved his hand into the gap and turned to the side. They both leant against the shelf. Not knowing that if the shelf wasn't there, such a perfect fit would be found.

For the next half an hour, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy sat and held hands, muttering secrets and new feelings to each other; both for once in their life, feeling like they belonged.

* * *

"_What if God was one of us?"_ Draco sang as he entered the Slytherin common room that night. Pansy was sat crossed legged on the floor in front of the coffee table and Blaise was sat with his feet tucked underneath him bum staring blankly at a book. Draco's good mood caused him to miss the tension between the two.

"_Just a slob like one of us!"_ He was rewarded with a glare from Pansy and a questioning glance from Blaise. _"Just a stranger on a bus trying to make his way home!"_ Draco flopped down on couch by Blaise with a huge grin on his face.

"What's a bus?"

"I have no idea, Blaise." Draco replied still smiling, Pansy tutted. Blaise went back to frantically flicking through a book angrily, with a lost sort of expression on her face, Draco's smile started to fault a little.

"What's up, guys?" he asked glancing between the two of them. They seemed to have fallen out over something or at least had a disagreement over something.

"What's up?" Pansy slammed down the volume and Blaise winced and Draco almost jumped out of his skin in surprise.

"What's wrong, Pansy?" Draco was genuinely worried now. Blaise and Pansy had their spats but they never had the tension been this bad. Draco was sure he could cut it with a knife.

"Me?" She asked mocking him, voice higher than usual. "Oh, I'm fine. It's Blaise you should be talking to!"

"Pansy, please," His friend begged the girl.

"Blaise?" Draco whispered, confidence ebbing away.

"Draco… I…"

"Zabini! TELL HIM OR I WILL!" Pansy being the overly dramatic girl she was, stormed off slamming her door as loud as humanly possible.

"What's she talking about, Blaise?" But Blaise was still staring at the book. He bit his lip, eyes rapidly filling with tears. Using his last piece of composure he closed the book placing it on the table and stood up. He put his hand out to Draco who nervously took it standing up slowly. Blaise walked in silence to the dorm and Draco sat on his bed nervously smoothing out the creases.

"Draco?" Blaise's voice wavered.

He looked up.

"We need to talk…" Blaise shut the door and turned to his best friend desperately trying to hold back his sobs.

* * *

"Naked" is from Let Go, the debut album by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne, released on June 4, 2002. "One of Us" is a song written by Eric Bazilian (of The Hooters) and originally released by Joan Osborne. Released in March 1995 on the album Relish and produced by Rick Chertoff, it became a top 40 hit in November of that year.

Fanfiction is by Faith stories hosted on this website contain characters created and owned by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic, Inc. and AOL/Time Warner, Inc., and may incorporate characters, locations and things created and/or owned by other third parties including but not limited to Joss Whedon, George Lucas and/or Lucasfilm, Fox, Paramount, Random House, Pengun Putnam, Inc., Ballantine Books, and a lot of other people. No permission has been given and since no money is being made here, no infringement is intended.


	11. My Confession

Draco stood up and walked over to his friend who was stood by the door still. He had never seen Blaise cry before and he wasn't sure how to act.

"Blaise, look at me." Draco whispered standing in front of him. Blaise was staring at the floor now, the tears falling freely. Why was everyone crying lately? Blaise glanced up staring at Draco through his light brown fringe.

"Oh Draco! Please don't hate me, please!" Draco almost fell over backwards when his friend threw his arms around him. Draco awkwardly patted his back.

"Erm? Blaise? I think we should talk, try and calm down mate, you're going to make yourself ill." Draco said, well he wasn't going to coo over him!

"But Draco, you don't understand!" Blaise sobbed into his jumper. "You're going to hate me. Please don't hate me!"

"Blaise! Please you're starting to worry me!" He was, seriously, all this emotion was driving Draco mad. Blaise Zabini never acted like this. Where was the laughing, the jokes? Blaise rarely had a serious moment! And Draco had never received a hug from any of his friends either, only Pansy and even that had been a tap on the back hug. But here he was, Blaise Zabini clinging onto Draco as if his life depended on it.

"I just, I…" Blaise just snuggled deeper into his friends shoulder. Draco, forgetting his pride and remembering how much his mystery girls comfort had helped him, bought both his arms up around his friends waist and hugged him, closing his eyes and leaning his head into the side of Blaise's. But this just made Blaise cry harder into his shoulder and he pulled him closer tightening his grip he had around his neck.

Draco, who would have been highly disturbed at a boy being this close to him on normal circumstances, just hugged his friend. And after a while, his sobs started to slow down.

"Okay you crazy fool, what's wrong? Come, sit down." Draco said as Blaise pulled away from him and Draco grabbed his wrist and led him to the bed. His mind laughing at him for leading a BOY into his BED and closing the bed curtains. Yeh you guessed, he ignored it, like everything else.

Draco and Blaise sat crossed legged opposite each other in the dark before Draco '_lumos_'ed and put his wand in front of him.

Blaise was avoiding eye contact and wringing his hands together nervously. Draco waited patiently for his friend to talk. In this time, Draco sat and thought about all the things that could have got his friend in this state and the only thing that came to his mind was… the dark mark. Because Draco would hate him for that. There was nothing else that could make him hate Blaise. Nothing.

Draco leaned black against the pillows and stared at Blaise. He was trembling all over, his breath deep and shaking, his hair was sticking to his face with the tears and he looked so pained. He was looking everywhere but Draco. Then he recognised what he was seeing: guilt.

"What's wrong, Blaise?" He spoke softly, not wanting his friend to start crying hysterically again.

"I, I," He stared down in his lap as he spoke, still wringing his hands. "I've been keeping a secret from you."

Silence.

"How long?"

"Since the start of this year."

"Oh, is it a bad secret?" Draco continued to speak quietly, not wanting to get mad under any circumstances; he would stay calm with him. Blaise screwed his face up and bit his lip as a fresh set of tears wracked their way through his body and he nodded his head.

"How bad?"

"I, I've been seeing someone, Draco…" Blaise spluttered out. Then started crying into his hands.

Draco was confused. And he didn't mask it because it was pure mind baffling confusion. Why was he crying then?

"Well… I know." Draco said slowly. Wondering where this conversation was going.

"No, no you don't."

"Yes I do, because yesterday you said 'I've got places to be going and people to be doing' and I called you a twat and laughed at your slip up." Draco replied.

"No, you don't understand, I've fell in love."

"Blaise you … what?" Draco swallowed hard, but his throat suddenly felt like sandpaper. Blaise nodded into his hands.

"I'm so sorry Draco, I didn't mean to, it just happened!" Draco was shocked, but still very, very confused.

"Blaise? I don't get it, it's a shock, but why is that bad?"

"Because I only wanted you to be happy!" Blaise shouted at him.

"WOW Blaise NO! PLEASE TELL ME IT'S NOT ME! YOU CAN'T LOVE ME!" Draco yelled back then remembered his promise to keep calm. He watched his friend sob harder into his hands, frantically shaking his head no. Well, that was a relief.

"Don't hate me Draco, please don't hate me." Draco scooted in front of Blaise and hugged him around the shoulders.

"I could never hate you Blaise, just calm down and we'll sort this all out okay." Draco whispered into his friends' hair. A voice in Draco's head praying that Jason wouldn't come back yet, this was a really compromising situation…

But all Blaise whispered was, _please don__'__t hate me, please, don__'__t I never meant for this to happen, I__'__m sorry so sorry_ over and over again.

"Blaise, seriously, what's wrong, just tell me I'm not going to hate you." Draco tried to reassure his friends by rubbing the top of his back. "I won't judge you whatever it is, you're an amazing friend. I won't hate you. I promise!"

"I fell in love,"

"Yeah you said that." Draco was trying his best not to lose his patience but it was so difficult with this damn soul expression.

"And it clouded my judgment." Draco nodded, Blaise had moved up and was hugging him back, crying into his shoulder like earlier.

"They say love is blind…" Draco whispered into his ear. Blaise nodded.

"And I did something bad." Draco barely caught him whisper it. But he had heard.

"To the one you love?" He shook his head no. Draco was dreading what was coming next. Had Blaise put himself in danger?

"It just got out of hand I didn't mean for it to go so far. It wasn't even a joke, but then it got funny and I thought it worked, but it didn't now someone's found out and, and," Blaise was stuttering like mad trying to choke his words out.

"Blaise, what are you talking about? I don't understand."

"I only wanted you to feel it Draco! Know what it was like I never meant for it to go this far, I didn't mean for you to be put in danger! I didn't know it could reflect! I'm sorry, so sorry. I just wanted you to feel! I didn't want you to be alone forever! I wanted you to love and feel. I didn't want you to turn into your dad!" Blaise sobbed into his shoulder. But some time in those words Draco had stiffened. It was Blaise. Blaise had done it. It was his entire fault. Everything was his fault. Draco breathed deeply.

"I'm sorry Draco, please don't hate me, I only wanted you to love…" Blaise carried on sobbing. Well, Draco understood all the tears now. Draco squeezed his eyes tightly and let the tears fall, gripping tight onto the boy that was changing his life.

"Thank you." this time Blaise stiffened. And slowly pulled away, his eyes puffy and red and looking a complete mess but he didn't care.

"What?" he whispered.

"Thank you, Blaise." Blaise was shocked to find Draco jump on top of him hugging him tight, both boys fell back and Draco was on top of Blaise. "Thank you so much, thank you, thank you! I could never hate you, you've saved me, thank you."

It was just at that time, as in all compromising positions, that Karma decides to bite you hard. Draco's hangings were thrown back and both boys looked up to see Professor Snape standing with an eyebrow raised, looking really shocked. Both boys sprung apart and went bright red.

"This isn't what it looks like Professor, I swear!" Draco and Blaise said at the same time.

"I'm sure it isn't boys. Just keep it in the dorms, okay?" Draco and Blaise went to protest but he put up a hand signaling for them to stop talking. "You didn't reply to my letter Draco, so I decided to come back to school early."

"What letter?" Draco mumbled still bright red, and it really looked funny on him. Snape glanced at his bed side cabinet where a letter was laying.

"Oh, that came at breakfast," Blaise said, "But you got dragged to practice so I bought it up and forgot. " Blaise muttered equally as red.

"I figured that one of you children would haves suspicions of other pupils with a soul expression, but it seems your extremely… preoccupied at the moment." Snape then shut the hangings again walked out leaving Draco and Blaise to will themselves to die right at that moment.

"Can I just confirm? … This friendship is completely platonic…." Snape heard Blaise say as he closed the hangings. He looked over at the letter on the bedside cabinet and picked it up examining it, couldn't leave any evidence around that could be… incriminating. He pocketed it and walked out of the dormitory smirking.

* * *

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. These stories hosted on this website contain characters created and owned by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic, Inc. and AOL/Time Warner, Inc., and may incorporate characters, locations and things created and/or owned by other third parties including but not limited to Joss Whedon, George Lucas and/or Lucasfilm, Fox, Paramount, Random House, Pengun Putnam, Inc., Ballantine Books, and a lot of other people. No permission has been given and since no money is being made here, no infringement is intended.


	12. Love is in the Air

The next day at breakfast the previous night had not been spoken of yet, Blaise and Draco remained on good terms but Pansy and Blaise were another story. Pansy had been refusing to talk to Blaise all morning, well actually to be more precise she hadn't even looked at him this morning. Not even an evil glance. And this was rather disturbing for the surrounding Slytherins as the five friends sat and ate breakfast together. Pansy was completely ignoring Blaise and he was doing everything he could to try and snap her out of it but she really wasn't responding to anything he did.

"Oh Pansy, just smack him around his dirty cheating face and get the anger out already." Draco said exasperated, her repeated ignorance was dulling his mood. She looked up at him her expression blank from across the table, and then returned to eating her apple and reading her book.

"Come on Pansy, I know you, violence from you would be charming right now." Draco said wiggling his eyebrows trying to make her laugh, Blaise just tutted. Pansy had just sucked the happiness out of him. "Oh Pansy look, look quick!" Draco chirped. She glanced up.

He then proceeded to jump to his feet stand behind Blaise, grab his friends head and swing it side to side singing,

"_Smack that all on the floor, smack that, give me some more, smack that, till you get sore, Smack that! Ohhhh…"_ Draco and Blaise burst out laughing but Pansy just collected her things and left the table leaving Draco and Blaise in a heavy silence.

* * *

Hermione loved Sundays; it mustn't have been until around ten when the sun finally woke her up. And when she did wake up she was surrounded by ink covered sheets, arms and pyjamas. Okay, this was getting ridiculous now, how had she even got hold of a quill in her sleep? But then her question was answered when she remembered she had a biro under her pillow with a note pad. She looked down at her bed sheets as she climbed out her bed. Well, it was a good job her dorms mates slept like the dead.

She sighed, flopping back down on the bed. She needed to find out why this was happening. She held her left arm up in the air in front of her face to read what she'd wrote as it was fascinating the things she always wrote.

'_I tell myself I don__'__t need him, _

_His words and passion, _

_But I__'__m fuelling this addiction, _

_When I know I should be stopping this stupid affliction.' _

"Interesting, by Merlin Mystery Boy what are you doing to me?" She thought out loud and allowed her arm to drop back onto the bed.

Well, she best get these cleaned before her dorm mates woke up and thought she was mad. She sighed pulling her sheets off, she was starting to regret arguing against elf labour…

It wasn't until around twelve that Hermione finished cleaning her sheets, getting dressed and gathering her supplies to have a day in the library again. She had decided to make a little more of an effort with today, she was after all in a brilliant mood despite the fact she had spent half an hour in the shower scrubbing ink off her body.

She had scooped her hair up into a messy bun and put a lily flower into the top of it; her hair was damp so she knew she would pay for this later as it would be a nightmare to tame after it dried. And she was feeling pretty comfortable today so she settled for wearing a pair of slipper-like-shoes, her faded blue jeans and a loose jumper. She looked at herself in the mirror ink free and feeling... Muggle. She liked dressing like this once in a while at Hogwarts; she didn't want to forget of her original heritance. It was nice to feel comfortable now and then, robes and wizard clothing was just so formal.

She smiled to her reflection in the mirror before grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. As she turned around she realised her dorm mates were gone, they hadn't even said goodbye! Well, how rude. She shrugged, not like it mattered anyway. They must have gone out when she was in the shower.

As she walked out the dormitory and down the stairs she figured she should really go to the kitchen and get something to eat. She was going to spend longer in the library today; she would make more of an effort to find what was wrong with her. Maybe Mystery Boy would be there? Or maybe not, but it was a nice thought that bought a smile to her face.

The smile didn't last long because the first thing she saw in the common room was Ron and Harry playing chess in front of the fire. And instantly she remembered all the times she had sat and watched them. If they were friends she'd be moaning at the about not doing their homework right now. She wouldn't admit it to them but she was hurt they had forgot about her so fast since their argument (well, her accusation), they hadn't spoken to her. Then she reminded herself she didn't really want them to speak to her anyway.

Even though Mystery Boy had explained several times that it was not them playing with her mind, she still couldn't help but feel hurt that they didn't even deny it. Maybe it was them then. Harry stood up and stretched and she darted behind one of the couches, ducking low onto the floor. She really didn't want to see them right now. She held her right hand firmly as it started twitching. Maybe the library wasn't such a good idea after all. She inwardly cursed herself for deciding to go now.

She was just about to leave and sneak back up to her dorm when she heard something interesting. She strained her ears. Normally she didn't do this but it was her name she had heard.

"What are we gonna do 'bout 'Mione?"

"Well first we need to convince her it wasn't us; I think she's still pretty pissed at what I did."

"Harry we've been through this, it wasn't-"

"Yeah, I know Ron, it's just scary you know? I want to help her but I feel like this is my entire fault. Especially with-"

"With what Harry?"

"Oh, nothing it doesn't matter. What's important is trying to make Hermione like us again."

"Do you think we should tell her about it?"

"Nah, she'd freak out and kill us probably, you saw how she reacted the other day."

"I suppose so…"

She didn't want to hear any more, it WAS Harry and Ron! How could they do this to her? They were supposed to be her friends! And last night she had thought of apologising and just a moment ago she was missing them. She abruptly stood up and Ron gasped when he saw her.

"'Mione, you scared me! Where'd you come from? How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough," She replied folding her arms, she wouldn't cry, she was better than that. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

"Oh good I mean now we can,"

"THE NERVE OF YOU TWO! DOING THIS TO ME! AND TO THINK I WAS FEELING GUILTY FOR ACCUSING YOU WHEN ALL ALONG IT WAS YOU! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME! I HATE YOU BOTH; DON'T EVEN LOOK AT ME EVER AGAIN!" Hermione stormed off leaving a shocked Harry and Ron for the second time in one week. She practically slammed the portrait closed when she climbed out and didn't listen to the fat lady's protests.

She was just daring anyone to annoy her today; she would hex them into the next millennia. How could they? They were so selfish! She never really used the word hate before because she had always felt it was such a strong word but now it really was fitting to how she felt about Harry and Ron.

Hermione was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice a certain brown haired boy lurking in Gryffindor territory. After all, it was a long way from the dungeons.

Back down in the dungeons Draco was sat in an arm chair rubbing his temples in slow circles. He had been trying to read more about Soul Expressions learn a little about them, see if he could prevent his random bouts of singing. And of course he couldn't concentrate. Pansy and Blaise were arguing, he wasn't listening to what they were saying, he didn't care. It was petty and pathetic and even worse, it had given him a migraine. He stood up and walked into his dorm and allowed himself to flop onto the bed.

"They were annoying you too?" Draco looked up.

"Oh it's you, didn't recognise your voice for a sec then, Theo."

"Sorry. They've been yelling for well over an hour, did you realize? Everyone retreated to the dorms." He said, he wasn't too bothered; it was more of a statement than anything else. Theodore was a rather isolated person and preferred time in the dormitories anyway.

"I know," Draco moaned, pulling his pillow on top of his head. "And even the walls don't block out the noise." Came Draco's muffled reply.

"Headache?" Theodore looked up for the second time from his book and reached into the bottom of his trunk grabbing a veil of potion. Draco noticed he had quite a few potions in there; he frowned not recognising any of the colours in the viles. What were they? Draco's attention was redirected as he threw it at him and it hit him on his hip. Draco jumped at the cold glass that had attacked his skin for a brief second.

"Oh thanks, Theo," he said uncorking it and swallowing it whole. He smiled as he sunk back into his bed, pillow off his head this time as he felt the pain slowly ebb away. He loved that feeling.

CRASH!

"YOU KNOW WHAT PANSY, FUCK YOU! THIS ARGUMENT IS OVER, GO GET BENT!" Blaise's voices easily pierced through the door and then another massive smash was heard then:

"!" Pansy's muffled high pitched scream drifted into the room as well, she was screaming into a pillow by the sound of it. Draco being the brotherly figure in the group stood up and slowly creaked open the door only to be greeted with a vase of flowers being thrown at the wall right beside his head, fuck being brotherly, she's getting disowned! Draco grabbed his book again and sat on the bed reading through it, it propped up against his legs as he sat in bed.

"Were you aware that there's a rumour about you and Blaise going around at the moment? Apparently, Snape walked out of here last night disgusted because he caught you and Blaise having sex against the window, or chair or in the bath or something like that. But don't worry, I've been spreading it's a lie, I know for a fact you're not gay and Blaise is taken." Theodore said as casually as possible, not looking up from his book.

Draco had stopped listening at 'sex against window' friends just shouldn't picture themselves in a situation like that with their mates, it was just… Disturbing. Draco cringed as another image flashed in his head.

"Fucking Slytherins, you're right, of course we weren't. Excuse me, I need to go and cleanse my mind before it self-destructs." Draco dragged himself back out of bed and into the common room, and then popped his head back around the door.

"Oh, Theo?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks, keep up the work, really masculine you know. Really homophobic, spread it a bit yeah?"

"Oh, okay Malfoy. Okay."

* * *

Harry and Ron were sat opposite each other in the common room still for long after Hermione left. Whatever she had heard she had took it horribly wrong. Harry was completely miserable and Ron was fuming.

"She's so, so ignorant! We've been friends six years why would we do that to her anyway! After everything! She's completely mental at the moment."

"Ron, it's the spell, no potion and it's dangerous remember. Of course there's going to be an increased paranoia and her own body isn't controlling itself anymore. We can only imagine how hurt and confused she's feeling." Harry said curling his feet underneath him on the couch.

"I know but, we need to tell her."

"I know, you're moaning and we haven't even tried yet!"

"No I'm not, we need to trick her into meeting us, or we could kidnap her for a bit and,"

"RON! Don't be irrational, she's our friend!"

"But Harry! She's-" Ron protested.

"Ron, don't I can't cope with this, it's too much, I need to think and," He looked at his watch. "I was supposed to meet the Slytherins ten minutes ago." Ron who was previously egging on a knight and a rook who had started fighting almost fell of his chair.

"What?"

"I said, I can't cope,"

"Nononono, Slytherins. Why are you meeting Slytherins?" Ron said, panicking.

"Ron, calm down, you can come too if you want, it's just about the spells and stuff, they did say the other day. Don't you remember?" Harry replied smoothly.

"No?"

"Well, are you coming?" Harry said, standing up. Ron pulled a face.

"Nah, you go ahead, I'll just go… do something." Muttered Ron standing up and walking up to the dorms muttering about 'hanging all Slytherin,' or something to that effect. Harry smiled to himself and walked out the portrait to be greeted with big watering brown eyes.

"Are you okay?" Harry said, concerned, as he wiped away the tears.

"Doesn't matter. How'd you get away? I was going to set up camp waiting."

"Anything for you!" Harry said smirking and bringing pale pink lips to his own, two smiles making one.

* * *

When Hermione arrived at the library she didn't even realise she'd walked over to the book shelf where she usually met Mystery Boy until she actually had sat on the floor. She paused, then smiled to herself shaking her head slightly in surprise. Oh well, she could get just as much done here than at a table and with more privacy.

Like she had decided earlier she hadn't went straight to the library but went down to the kitchen first grabbing a beaker refillable tea, two muffins and a bar of chocolate. She put them on the floor beside her and reached into her bag to get the book she was trying and failing to read Saturday morning. She opened the cover and stared at the contents page.

"Come on, you're not doing this again, you're getting no-where it's pointless." Hermione muttered picking up her tea.

"What is?" A voice whispered into her ear.

"Wow, what!" Hermione shouted as she jumped and split tea all over herself. "Mystery boy!" She cursed. She muttered a few spells cleaning up her mess, then putting down her beaker which had refilled itself already.

"The one and only!" Come the deep smooth voice from behind her, she could hear him giggling at her. "You know, you shouldn't drink in the library."

Silence.

"How did you know I was drinking?"

"Because I saw you."

"W, what?" Hermione stammered.

"Well, seen the drink go all over you're jeans anyway, nice hair by the way. It smells gorgeous Mystery girl." Draco said turning back around. He had been so close; he had actually spoken into her ear. He knew what she smelt like, jasmine and something else which was kind of spicy. He recognised it from somewhere, maybe it was a perfume? Oh and he had took advantage of that, he had actually sniffed her. Now normally he didn't go around sniffing people, but you know, seems his new pastime was going around and singing at people he decided it didn't really matter.

"Oh Merlin, you scared me then! I thought you meant you SAW me, as in knew who I was." Hermione was so relieved. "Now what would you have done if it wasn't me and some unsuspecting victim?" She teased, blushing at the compliment about her hair.

"Oh I dunno? _Avada Kedavra_'ed myself in embarrassment?" he joked. "But then? What would you ever do without me?"

"Not get fat, you keep feeding me."

"I fed you once and it was a bit of chocolate, that's all. Besides, you said you love chocolate." Draco whispered back to her. Her voice was so soothing to his ears.

"I do."

Silence.

"Do you want some chocolate?" Draco laughed.

"What?" She smiled.

"You! Complain about me feeding you chocolate then offer me some!" Hermione giggled.

"Well, I thought I would return the favour." When Draco turned around there was a bar of chocolate on the shelf like he had done last night. He took it smiling; it was exactly the same as the stuff he had got yesterday. Mystery girl had been to the kitchens.

Silence.

Flutter.

Munch.

"Is that even possible?" Hermione said looking up from her book; she thankfully had got past the contents page now.

"What?"

"To _Avarda Kedavra _yourself?"

"I don't suppose it is, why?"

"Curious."

Silence.

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"What are _you _doing here?"

"Reading."

"Same." Draco stared blankly at the page in his book. "Well, actually my friends have kind of had a misunderstanding, a bit like yours I guess so they're not talking to each other."

"Oh?" She stopped reading. Draco fingered his ring, twisting it around.

"Yeah, erm, I've got this boy mate and this girl mate and they normally bicker but it's because there total opposites and I thought it was because they fancied each other but it turned out my boy mate is already seeing someone, so now my girl mates in a bit of a mood with him, he only told us last night."

"Wait so, is she in a mood because of who he's seeing or because he's seeing someone because even if I liked my friend, I'd be happy he'd found someone."

Silence.

"I don't know." Draco hadn't thought about it. Who was Blaise seeing? "I have no idea, I just realised Bla- my boy mate didn't say who he was seeing." Maybe it was for the best if Pansy was in a mood over that, Draco realised he was probably better off not knowing.

"Well, why didn't he tell you? That seems a bit weird to say he's seeing someone then refuse to say who it is."

"No, you misunderstand me," Draco corrected her. "He didn't refuse, it just didn't cross my mind to ask, he was kind of upset when we were talking about it. He probably was so wrapped up in being upset that it was the last thing on his mind."

"Maybe."

Silence.

"So… Just reading or, are you here for another reason."

"Oh, another pointless argument with my friends, I found out it wasn't a misunderstanding, they did do something to me. I overheard them talking about it. It just… Hurt. I mean, I've been best friends with them six years now."

"Oh, well that's a bummer. It might work out."

"It might, but… I'm not sure if I want it to. Is that bad of me?" Hermione whispered leaning her head back against the shelf. She felt a few books slide back slightly.

"No, I don't think it is, I mean, it takes a lot to trust someone and when they betray that, it might never be that same, after all what would stop them doing it again."

"You're very Slytherin. Doesn't everyone deserve a second chance?"

"You're very Gryffindor. A Death Eater doesn't change its mark. Once a Death Eater always a Death Eater. "

"I suppose. You shouldn't say that, you could get in trouble."

"It's just an expression. Actually, you have a point; I scolded a friend for the same thing yesterday actually."

"Funny."

Silence.

For the next ten minutes or so all could be heard was the turning of pages, soft breathing and the occasional bite of chocolate and sip of tea.

"Hey, I never got to tell you my secret did I? I mean, I need some help with something. Will you swear never to tell a soul?" At this comment Draco felt touched and he remembered last night when they had held hands through the book shelf and how close he had felt to her, he hadn't stopped dreaming about it last night. He was itching to do it again. Hermione felt the same.

"On one condition, if you hold my hand again."

"And why would I do that?" Hermione asked in mock disgust, but he could easily hear the humour in her voice.

"Well, because you can't resist my charm?" He smiled. Oh so he had an ego, a rather big one? Interesting, should she fuel it?

"You must have been reading my mind." She smiled and turned to the side pushing her waiting hand under the gap in the shelf. Soon she felt a cool hand slip into hers, soft skinned and a gentle caress across her thumb and he stroked his across hers. She could feel the even the warm metal of his ring on her fingers and she smiled. This was just as good as last night.

"So mystery girl, what can I help you with?"

"Well," Hermione took a deep breath, it was now or never. "Well, I've been acting rather strange lately, like a spell or potion has been put on me. I've been confused and forgetful and," Draco didn't let her continue he sat up straight and she felt him tense his hand.

"Have you been doing something strange? Like erm… I dunno, just something really weird?"

"Yeah, I've been writing poems everywhere actually."

"You've got a soul expression like me." Draco hissed through the bookcase.

Silence.

Hermione paled. The thought hadn't crossed her mind even when Mystery boy had told her about his expression last night.

"Listen," Hermione tuned back in and tried to stop her hand twitching a bit. "When my expression was cast, it reflected from the Slytherin table all the way to the Gryffindor, it easily could have hit you! Me and six other people not including Dumbledore and Snape have been searching for people it could have hit. You obviously are one of them!" Draco concluded. His mystery girl had an expression like him!

Everything clicked into place for Hermione. She hadn't registered it last night, but he had sung a muggle song and who else had jumped past her in the hall way humming a muggle song? With that Zabini boy, Hermione's heart dropped.

"You're Draco Malfoy aren't you?" The hand tensed.

"Erm… Is that a bad thing?" Hermione thought for a moment and resisted pulling her hand away. This was Draco Malfoy. She was holding Draco Malfoy's hand. Malfoy Malfoy Malfoy! She thought to herself before doing something she regretted. She was holding the hand of Draco Malfoy who had a soul expression on him, not allowing him to deny true feeling or to lie, or he would sing the truth, every time he tried to suppress the truth he sang. Like he did yesterday.

"_See how I've opened up? You've made me trust. I've never felt like this before. I'm naked around you. Does it show?" _She smiled.

"No, that isn't a problem." Draco's grin could have split his face.

* * *

_Draco, _as Hermione now called him, had left the library around three o'clock leaving her to think of everything they had talked about. The soul expression, him, Ron and Harry (not that he knew it was them) and just everything. She had enjoyed holding his hand the whole time. And she just smiled and held her head high. She didn't care, she loved holding his hand. Even though he was Malfoy, she had seen a side she knew no-one else had. She felt… privileged and touched he'd shown it to her. Not that he knew who she was but still, all the same. And what relieved her and made her trust him more, he had told her about the soul expression, figured it out; it had to be true, the spell made so much sense to her now. She had all the symptoms to someone with a soul expression spell and lacking the potion. And he was going to fix her as soon as possible and it was their secret.

She had even asked the question she had always wondered about, was his hair really that blonde? It was apparently, and up until he was around eight it was white, but then had darkened slightly with age. They talked about a lot of things in those three hours, and the soul expression wasn't really a big subject. There had been a random burst of questions. She smiled at the memory, never wanting to forget.

"_Colour?"_

"_Silver."_

"_Goes with your eyes."_

"_What about yours?"_

"_Purple."_

"_Does that go with your eyes?" he had joked._

"_Oh yeh, mine are really bright purple, glow in the dark and everything." He giggled. Hermione had corrected herself at that moment, Malfoy didn't giggle… It was like a, a, no it was a giggle. She was looking for something more masculine but nothing fit._

"_Food?"_

"_Do you really have to ask?"_

"_It's chocolate isn't it Mystery girl?"_

"_Why yes it is… Draco." She loved the sound of his name rolling off her tongue; it was a very beautiful name after all. "Well, actually, it's rather ironic; my parents are dentists, obsessed with teeth and stuff. I never eat chocolate at home, they'd kill me. It's probably why I love it so much, I'd never really ate any until I came to Hogwarts."_

"_Never ate chocolate? Well I say. Honestly, I've always ate sweets and chocolate, obsessed with it. I've got a raging sweet tooth. Mother sends me stuff on a regular basis actually, you've probably seen Falcon, that's my owl, deliver it before."_

"_Yes I have to admit, everyone envies the presents you receive from home." Hermione smiled; well she knew Ron did for certain._

"_I guess you understand what I meant now as well, about me being pressured to act a certain way, about the whole arranged marriage thing… now you know who I am."_

"_Yes, it all makes sense Draco. Heartbreaking sense."_

And in this conversation, she figured, he wasn't evil… He was... Misunderstood. Seriously over judged, she almost rolled her eyes at that thought. He was still Malfoy, the boy who called her a mudblood now and then, but since the potion, he hadn't so he couldn't have meant it when he was saying it. He hadn't insulted anyone really. Not even Harry and Ron.

Harry and Ron….

Even though Hermione wasn't a spiteful person she smirked at the thought on her lips.

"If only they knew."

* * *

Draco Malfoy felt like he was flying, not only did he feel like he was on cloud nine, he could have better described it as cloud fifty-two he was soaring so high. This girl, who ever she was, was in Gryffindor and didn't care who he was and by the sound of it she wasn't some bimbo. So he wasn't in danger of a gold digger. Brilliant!

She was sweet and caring, understanding, he could trust her, she was interesting, funny and shared his love for chocolate, what more could he ask for?

He skipped, yes, skipped down the front steps and onto the grounds, he was meeting his friends by the lake, they always went there on Sundays between three and dinner to skip stones.

"_I__ see trees of green, red roses too, I see them bloom for me and you, and I think to myself what a wonderful world."_ Draco sang enthusiastically as he jumped down the reminder of steps and petrified a few second year Hufflepuffs as he did so. Some Gryffindors got up and moved out of his way muttering something to do with 'bleaching their eyes' His smile wasn't that bad, his mother had always called him handsome when he smiled! Oh well, NOTHING could dampen his mood at the moment. NOTHING!

"_The colours of the rainbow so pretty in the sky, are also on the faces of people going by, I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do, and they're really saying I love you."_ Draco paused as he approached his friends.

"Whatever you're on Draco, I want some." Pansy said turning to him looking miserable. Pansy was sat on top of a rock, her legs dangling and her face in her hands, Crabbe and Goyle were already skipping the stones. He looked up at her; he'd never seen Pansy Parkinson look so depressed in his life.

"What's up Pansy? Where's Blaise?"

"That's what's up! He's off with lover boy again." She exclaimed throwing her arms up in the air dramatically.

"Excuse me? Boy?" Draco choked out. Pansy looked gob smacked down at him.

"He didn't tell you, did he?" She smirked unbelieving and looking shocked at the same time.

"Tell me what? What am I missing? I don't understand! Why am I the last to know?" So much for nobody ruining his mood! "Actually no, I don't want to know, he's gay I'm over it, he likes it up the arse, good! So now that's clear, Crabbe stop hogging them stones I'm gunna kick your ass."

"But Draco, it's really important!" Pansy said jumping off the rock.

"Pansy, shut it!" Draco said aiming to skip a rock.

"But,"

"Just,"

"But,"

"Shut,"

"But,"

"It. Shhh…" Pansy sighed defeated. "Look see that's not so bad is it. Just listen to the silence…"

"You know what, Malfoy?"

"What my little petal?" Draco said with false enthusiasm.

"You're pure evil you know that?"

"Oh Pansy, you're so cute… I'm not evil, I'm just better than you."

* * *

When Hermione got back to the tower at around 8 after dinner she was confronted with Harry sitting at the bottom step to the girls' dorms. Upon seeing her he stood up and walked towards her.

But Hermione was determined for him not to spoil her good mood. She clearly avoided his eye contact and walked straight past him and up the stairs.

"Hermione, Just hear me out! Okay? We need to talk!" Harry tried to walk up the stairs bit he just slid back down. "HERMIONE!" Harry winced as he heard a door slam from Hermione's direction. He turned around rubbing the back of his neck. The whole common room was staring at him. So much for the direct approach, Ron was right. This needed to be sneaky.

* * *

"**Smack That**" is the first single from Akon's second album _Konvicted_ and features Eminem. "**What a Wonderful World**" is a song written by Bob Thiele (as George Douglas) and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1968.

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. These stories hosted on this website contain characters created and owned by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic, Inc. and AOL/Time Warner, Inc., and may incorporate characters, locations and things created and/or owned by other third parties including but not limited to Joss Whedon, George Lucas and/or Lucasfilm, Fox, Paramount, Random House, Pengun Putnam, Inc., Ballantine Books, and a lot of other people. No permission has been given and since no money is being made here, no infringement is intended.


	13. The Width of a Thread from a Spiders Web

"Crap!" Hermione sat up with a start, she glanced around to see if she'd woken anyone but thankfully she hadn't. She breathed a sigh of relief and laid back down turning onto her side. She was feeling three things at the moment; one of them was regret, one was guilt and the other and the most important was panic. She had made a mistake, a horrible mistake.

She looked at her watch; it was three in the morning. She'd never be able to sleep now she's figured everything out. So instead she reached under her pillow and pulled out her note pad, she realised a few seconds ago her biro was already in her hand and had scribbled poetry all over her pillow again.

She opened the book and grabbed her wand. "Lumos." She muttered lazily with a swish of her hand. She immediately started writing as soon as her light was balanced on her notepad.

_Dear Draco,_

_I've just realised something while I was dreaming. Yes it is 3am but I needed your advice! I'm sorry if this wakes you I'm hoping you won't read it until morning but if Terra (the owl) wakes you, apologies._

_Anyway as you so kindly figured for me yesterday I have the soul expression on me like you do. You received yours on Thursday when we were at dinner and it reflected and hit me, yes? Well, originally me and my friends fell out because I thought they were messing with my mind but obviously this isn't the case at all. If this were true it would mean my friends would have cast the spell on you while sitting right next to me. But this wasn't what made me doubt my accusation. It was the __aim!__ The Hufflepuff AND Ravinclaw tables are between ours. Even I wouldn't be able to reach you from where we were sitting, it's impossible. So this made me realise two things, 1/ it was not my friends and 2/ it was someone in the Slytherin house that cast the spell. Anyone further would be impossible; there is too high a risk that it would hit someone else. And the fact the spell reflected all the way to me is highly unlikely as it is. I can only imagine how many other people have an expression on them._

_So, anyway, now I'm here worried sick at what I've accused my friends of and more importantly that you are in danger! I don't know why the spell was cast on you Draco but if it was someone in your house you could be in danger. After all you come from a very wealthy pure line, some people would envy that._

_I know we've only been talking since Friday but I've become rather attached to you in that short time. I'm literally feeling sick with worry for you, I think it might be the soul expression but that only controlled my body right? I'm confused… and worried and can't sleep. Which is quite ordinary for me but the small fact about it being 10 times stronger is kind of making it… unbearable. _

_Oh god, I'm babbling, I'm sorry Draco, this is most unlike me, but I guess the expression is changing me right?_

_Well, please write back, I know you'll be able to sooth my worry or at least help me with what I should do about my friends now. If not, same place tomorrow 7 o'clock, most people will be at dinner. I guess I'll see you around; I couldn't miss that gorgeous blonde hair if I tried!_

_Best wishes, 'Mystery Girl' /xXx_

Hermione read through the letter and ripped it out her notebook. 'Should I send it?' She thought to herself. This thing with Draco was making her really emotionally attached to the Slytherin. And she knew she must remember that, he was Slytherin, pure blooded, prejudice and had an arranged marriage. She just knew she was going to get hurt. It was undeniable now that she fancied him after all what was not to fancy? He was honest, sincere, he listened and seemed very patient (since the expression anyway) and above all, he shared her love of chocolate! She reminded herself it wasn't the spell speaking or acting but the real Draco so she SHOULD stop being so hard on him. She smirked… how could she forget? He was of course devilishly handsome as well…

Thinking back to Friday morning when she'd awoken to find Draco and Ron fighting in the infirmary. What Draco had said… he obviously wasn't disgusted by her. He had even wound up Ron by saying something had happened. Hopefully, when he found out who she was, he wouldn't be too disappointed. She almost laughed at the thought of the fight that would happen if Ron found out. That night in the infirmary had been innocent; this wasn't involuntarily like that night. Well hopefully no karate chopping would be involved this time around.

Hermione lay and thought silently to herself for the next few minutes. She had made up her mind, she would send it. She trusted him and he'd helped her out even though he could have ignored her that day when he had heard her crying. But he hadn't and was still meeting her even though he didn't have a clue who she was. She could be feeding him a pack of lies for all her knew! Whereas she knew for a fact that he was Draco Malfoy. He trusted her so she would return it and send the letter.

She quietly climbed out of bed and sneaked to the cage in the corner. Terra wasn't her owl, she was Lavender's but she had never minded Hermione borrowing her before. So she opened the cage door and gently poked Terra awake.

"Terra, I need you to take this to Draco Malfoy, he should be down in the dungeons okay?" The owl ruffled her wings before flying out and onto Hermione's arm and stuck out her tiny leg. Hermione attached the letter to it with some difficultly as the only light she had was from the other side of the room. Once it was on properly Terra flew straight out the already open window.

Hermione climbed back into bed, hiding the biro from her twitching right hand and picked up her favourite book, 'Hogwarts: A history' if she wasn't going to sleep at obscene hours, then she would be constructive.

* * *

Draco was awoken by a persistent tapping; he opened one eye to see an owl hovering at the window. Who in their right mind would owl at this hour? The first person who came to mind was Snape, but then he even had the decency to wait until the morning.

He climbed out of bed just as he realised it might not even be for him. "Well, it best be for me or blood will be shed." Draco murmured to himself as he opened the window. The owl hopped onto the ledge and Draco untied the letter. Thankfully for his roommates, 'Draco' was scrawled on the front. He slowly opened it not recognising the hand but by the time he had finished reading it he was smiling. Whoever this girl was, she was adorable.

On normal circumstances Draco would have shooed the owl away and went back to bed but seems it was Mystery Girl she got special treatment. If he went back to bed he would be worrying about her worrying anyway. So at that moment he made a decision and grabbed a quill and a scrap of parchment from the desk by the window. He didn't have any idea who's they were but as if he cared anyway? He replied:

_Mystery girl, thankfully for you I CAN soothe your worry and we can discuss your problem after you stop panicking. Come to the library NOW, like as soon as you get this. We'll meet in our usual place. I'll see you in a minute._

_D.M._

_P.s if you've fell asleep and you stand me up in the library I will find who you are and hurt you profusely._

_P.p.s that's a lie sorry. But I won't be happy. _

_P.p.p.s (god that's ridiculous) Yes you did wake me but I'm kind of glad anyway because I'd prefer to be in your company, I enjoyed last night and you put me in a brilliant mood. I'd love to be that happy in the morning. :)_

Draco tied the letter to the owl whispering "Return to your owner." He slipped on his cloak over his silk pyjamas. He was going to the kitchens first, hot chocolate sounded delicious at this hour.

* * *

When Draco got into the library and to his usual place he was surprised to find a pair of chocolate brown eyes staring at him through the bookshelf. He smiled.

"You know, if you keep that up I'll figure out who you are."

"I was worried, I thought something may have happened or you stood me up or something."

"I never would dream of it mystery girl, I was getting some hot chocolate to match your brown eyes." He said putting it on the shelf and sitting down.

"There not brown there purple remember." Hermione reminded him picking up her beaker.

"Oh yes, my mistake." Draco said seriously as he took a sip of his drink. Okay, this was really weird…

Silence.

Draco felt really strange, it was half three in the morning and he was sat in the pitch black library talking to a girl he didn't know. 'Yeah but she's mystery girl!' a voice whined inside his head sounding a lot like Blaise. Oh yes… Blaise.

"Okay here's the thing mystery girl. I know it's someone in my house; in fact it's why my friends fell out. But you can't tell anyone if I tell you, I'm not even sure why I _am _telling you to be honest."

"It's because you wove me and care about me." Hermione said in a baby voice, Draco smiled.

"Maybe…" He whispered.

"You know," Hermione pointed out, "you don't need to whisper to me anymore, I know who you are, so it doesn't matter if I recognise you're voice."

"Yes but it's weird to talk to someone who's whispering. Oh anyway, don't get me sidetracked do you want to know or not and can you keep a secret?"

"Of course I can, I'm not a gossiping bimbo."

"Oh crap, I can't go on knowing that, I was so looking forward to it! This relationship just isn't working, you can think for yourself, I just can't cope knowing that… " Draco then pretended to cry. He stopped suddenly, "I hate bimbo's, what's that one in your house… erm, Lavender Dun or something. She scares me immensely, I'm afraid she'll eat my first born…"

"Shut up. You're a fool Malfoy, if you hadn't have let it slip yesterday I never would guess it's you now." Hermione giggled.

"Well, it is!" Draco argued. "I'm just a little… Different around you, happier. ANYWAY! Before you sidetracked me again. Blaise Zabini came to me crying the other night; it was him that put the spell on me to make me feel love because he didn't want me to turn out like my dad." Draco explained. On the other side of the shelf Hermione's mouth formed a 'o'.

"Makes sense now, so you're not in danger?"

"Not at all, all Blaise is capable of is either laughing AT me or crying ON me." Hermione laughed.

"So, could you help me with the friend thing then?" Hermione questioned. "What would you do if you were me?"

"Well, personally I'm very stubborn so I guess I would just wait for them to come to me. They noticed something was wrong and automatically assumed you were attention seeking, which actually I don't know whether it's normal for you do I?" he paused. "Well, anyway they still accused you for attention seeking when there was something wrong. They should have sat you down and said we've noticed there's something wrong ect ect. Fair enough you decapitated there ego's and pride but you know, they'll live. You're the victim, so wait for them!" Draco tried to convince her.

"Well, but… I've been friends with them six years and it just sounded and looked so suspicious! They must have known what they were doing was making it look that way. And then what was Harry…et on about! She practically said it was her." Hermione held her breath after the slip up, he was bound to know who she was know! There was only one Harry in Gryffindor.

"Well maybe Harriet was talking about something else. Girls are paranoid and stress I'm so glad I'm not one." Oh my god. Hermione smiled, talk about bimbo. He was so cute though, and clueless. She smiled again.

"So, I just wait for them to calm down and when they approach me and apologise just… say sorry back and kiss and make up?" Hermione asked, swirling her hot chocolate into a little whirlpool in her beaker.

"Yes. Look see, you didn't even need my help did you mystery girl? You just wanted to see me!" Draco joked standing up and stretching his legs.

"No, you cleared my mind." She sighed picking at the beaker. "So does Dumbledore know its Blaise?"

"NO! And you can't tell him, you'll get Blaise in massive trouble. Not a soul must know okay."

"Know what?"

"Good, now that's the attitude!" he yawned. Draco was trying to keep his eyes open but failing miserably, but he didn't want to leave mystery girl yet. Hermione felt a cool hand on hers and she instantly grabbed it turning to her side. It was amazing how such a small gesture could make everything okay.

"Draco?"

"Hmm?"

"I was wondering… How, how do you feel about me?" Hermione asked hesitantly. Biting her lip and closing her eyes as she braced herself for the worse. Draco didn't hesitate or curse this time when he started singing, she smiled.

"_I can't wait to fall in love with you, you can't wait to fall in love with me, this just can't be summer love, you'll see, this just can't be summer love. L-O-V-E. Come on and lemme show you 'round, let me take you out, bet you we could have some fun girl. 'Cause we can dress it up, we can dress it down any way you want it done girl  
Or we can stay home, talkin' on the phone, rappin' 'til we see the sun girl. Do what I gotta do, just gotta show you that I'm the one girl. Well I'mma freak you right, each and every night I know how to do it insane girl. 'Cause I can make it hot, make it stop make you wanna say my name girl, come on baby please 'cause I'm on my knees. Can't get you off my brain girl, but who would've thought that you could be the one 'cause I... I can't wait to fall in love with you. You can't wait to fall in love with me. This just can't be summer love, you'll see. This just can't be summer love. L-O-V-E."_ Draco stopped singing and carried on talking. "Erm… I think I have a new interest in Justin Timberlake that no-one knows about. Including myself." Hermione didn't answer.

"What does all that mean though?" Hermione whispered after a while.

"Erm… I like you…. I thought that was clear enough…" Draco stared down at his ring thinking, but he asked anyway. "Do you like me?" Draco tried to keep the hopeful tone out of his voice.

"Yes, yes I do." Draco smiled a real genuine smile.

"Wow." he whispered, he didn't know that hearing words so simple could make anyone feel so amazing. "That's good." He whispered.

"Well, I suppose…"

"How so? Why do you only suppose?"

"Draco, you don't even know who I am. What if I'm some fat dirty greasy person? You wouldn't like me then."

"But I would, because I already do, and I happen to know for a fact you're not fat or dirty or greasy because I've seen some of you."

"Yeah but," Hermione protested. She was amazed Draco liked her back, but this façade couldn't go on forever, one day she would have to tell him who she was and what if he didn't want her anymore?

"Mystery girl, I like you, get over it. You won't make me stop, it's too late."

"What if liking me isn't enough? What if it runs deeper than that? What if I-"

"Are you asking me if I love you?"

Silence.

"No, but what if I love you?" She asked, not really thinking rationally anymore. They did need to talk about this.

"Well, there's only one thing I can say to that mystery girl, and it just happens to be another Justin Timberlake song." Draco said before he started singing, this time it wasn't a soul expression, but it was the only way he knew how to describe how he felt. _"If you're love was all I had in this life,that would be enough until the end of time. So rest your weary heart and rest your mind. Because I'm gunna love you until the end of time."_ Draco cleared his throat. "Explanation enough?" Draco smirked.

"Yeah…" Hermione croaked out, this had never happened before. She'd never been in this situation before. No-one had ever, ever said anything like that to her before, let alone sing it. "Can we… take it slow then? I mean, give me time, to let you know who I am?"

"Of course. Wouldn't force you to do anything you didn't want to. I'm a Malfoy and more importantly than that, I'm a gentleman. Now don't you think we should be getting to bed? It must be late." Draco said yawning. Hermione agreed to herself that she would just see what happened, this was moving fast so she should just accept it for now, it would all work out for the best whether or not she ended up with Draco. She was just scared of getting hurt.

"Are you coming?" Draco asked standing up.

"Okay, erm… You go first; I'll be out in a minute, night, Malfoy." Hermione said standing up herself.

"Aww, don't call me Malfoy, it's so… Rival." Hermione almost laughed at the irony. "It's Draco or Draconis, or-"

"Draconis?" She'd always thought his name was latin, but obviously not, just his abbreviated nick name.

"Yep. Draconis Lucius Malfoy," Draco confirmed from the other side of the shelf. "Or Dray or Drake-" he continued.

"Okay I get the point, DRAY." She smiled. "Goodnight." She watched him walk out the library blonde hair reflecting the moonlight. Her stomach swirled and her throat tingled before, _"When you walk away, I count the steps that you take, do you see how much I need you right now? When you're gone the pieces of my heart are missing you, when you're gone, the face I came to know is missing too. When you're gone, all the words I need to hear to always get me through the day, and make it okay. I miss you."_ Hermione gasped. What the hell just happened? She just sang, she just had a singing expression, not a writing one! It didn't make sense! Well so much for sleeping!

* * *

At the Slytherin table the next day Draco and Blaise were positively beaming as they ate pancakes with a ridiculous amount of syrup on them. Pansy was ignoring them both, or at least it seemed that way, she hadn't really spoke to anyone this morning in fear of blurting out to Draco who Blaise was seeing. Crabbe and Goyle were finally starting to pick up that something was going on behind their backs. Goyle was the first to speak.

"Hey, are you two like dating or something?" He asked curiously. Draco and Blaise's mouth dropped open still full of food and looked as though they'd been smacked in face.

"I was only curious…" He continued pressing the matter. Draco swallowed.

"What Goyle! Ew!" He said wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "That is totally disgusting… no offence Blaise." He added as an afterthought. And then carried on shoving pancakes in his mouth in a very un-Draco way.

"Nah, it's alright Draco." He sucked his teeth demanding Crabbe and Goyle's attention again. "What makes you say that?" Crabbe and Goyle exchanged a look.

"Well, you're both so happy and you've always bin close so I fought,"

"You thought wrong. I am seeing someone but not Draco, definitely not Draco, that would be like incest or something." He shuddered.

"Well, there are those rumours going around as well. I didn't know you two were THAT close…" Crabbe hinted. The Slytherins around the table were listening in unnoticed.

"WE DID NOT HAVE SEX!" Blaise and Draco yelled at the same time. The hall went quiet and they both blushed and carried on eating embarrassed until most of the chattering increased.

"Like I said," Continued Draco. "We didn't have sex, we're not together, Blaise has a boyfriend and I have a girlfriend… kinda." Now that got Pansy's attention. She choked on her juice and a girl next to her patted her back.

"WHAT! Since when, what happened to, Mr. I'm-marrying-for-money-and-social-status-only?" Pansy said completely gob smacked, if her friends didn't stop surprising her all the time she was sure she would have a heart attack.

"Well, things change and I changed, I think…" Draco shrugged, it was true.

"But it's just not you Draco, this spell-potion thingy, it's messing you up! This is all wrong!" Draco cleared his throat.

"_There's a line between wrong and right and it's the width of a thread, from a spiders web."_ he sang waving a finger in front of her face. She scowled.

"If you're going to try and convince everyone you're not gay and shagging Blaise then wouldn't it be wise not to sing Katie Melua?" She asked challenging him.

"Pansy, you know I'm not seeing Blaise! What's wrong with you?"

"No, Draco, what's wrong with you? Now really, who is she? A poncy Gryffindor maybe?" Draco was speechless. "Oh, you're so open like a book Draco Malfoy, what are you and Blaise the Gryffindor fan club or something?" She shook her head in disgust before leaving the table. Blaise and Draco turned to each other at the same time.

"You're seeing a Gryffindor?" they said in unison.

"Wait…" Draco put his hand up. "You don't' tell me and I won't ask if you'll do the same." Blaise nodded and they both continued eating. Draco was lost in his thoughts until he spotted a very familiar owl swoop down onto the Gryffindor table… and right onto Lavender Brown's arm. He stared horrified… Surely he was in hell.

* * *

Hermione was rushing down to breakfast, she woke up late and by the time she had checked over all her homework breakfast was almost over. She just figured she'd grab a muffin and a goblet of juice but of course because she was so determined to do that before she had to go to Ancient Runes, it didn't happen. And it didn't happen because as soon as she walked out of the Gryffindor tower, an invisible hand wrapped around her mouth and she was lifted her into the air screaming and pulled her into a classroom down the hallway. She was roughly pushed in and came face to face with Ron, she turned around she see Harry lock the door, his invisibility cloak at his feet.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Do you often kidnap people and hold them against their own free will or do I get special treatment." She snarled.

"Hermione, you're going to listen to us. We know what's wrong with you and we didn't do it. I don't know who did but hear us out." Harry bagged. Hermione leaned against the teachers' desk.

"Look, 'Mione were sorry for yelling at you that day, we were just worried okay. And, we both realise that there's been a misunderstanding and we need to sort it out." Ron explained.

"Basically, we miss you Hermione." Harry whispered and Hermione softened suddenly remembering why she loved these two boys so much.

"Oh you two! I'm sorry and I miss you too!" Hermione yelled jumping into their arms. "With this soul expression and everything that's happening between me and Draco," Hermione rambled on. Harry pulled away and Ron sprung away as though he'd touched acid.

"Soul expression?"

"Malfoy?" the boys both said at the same time. Expressions very different, Harry looked curious as to how she knew about the expression and Ron looked horrified at the mention of Malfoy.

"Yes yes, the soul expression it's what's wrong with me." Hermione said as if it was the most obviously thing in the world, which really it was if you thought about it.

"Oh and what about Malfoy?" Harry raised an eyebrow at her, this was going to be interesting, he could tell. Hermione fidgeted avoiding eye contact.

"Erm… well…." Mumble mumble mumble.

"What was that Herm?"

"We're kinda… seeing each other… very kind of…" She stared at the floor.

"WHAT! How can you stand that… that FERRET?"

"Oh Ron grow up he hasn't bothered us in ages." Harry snapped at his friend. "Hermione's a big girl she knows what she's doing." Ron looked shocked.

"How can you defend her Harry? Malfoys so… so Slytherin!"

"And what's wrong with Slytherin!" Harry said pushing off the table and staring challengingly at Ron.

"What isn't wrong with Slytherin?" Ron shot back looking at Harry as if he was completely mad.

"I was almost sorted into Slytherin and I'm okay! Or do you have a problem with me as well?" Harry yelled. Ron was too shocked to speak, Hermione decided it was her turn to jump in now.

"Boys don't fight." she said standing between the two that were now glaring daggers at each other. "We all just made up you can't fight okay. Just don't fight."

"Right then, we'll talk. What's going on, Harry?" Harry folded his arms and looked away.

"I don't want to talk about it you. I… I'm not ready to." Ron went to protest but Hermione gave him 'the look'.

"Okay Harry that's fine." Hermione said putting her hand on Harry's arm in a comforting way. "We should be getting to lesson, the bells about to go in about ten seconds." Harry nodded picking up his cloak unlocking the door and then walking out of the room leaving Ron and Hermione alone. "Ron, I don't want you bugging him about this and I mean it." Ron nodded slowly.

"Come on, I'll walk you to Runes, got Divination, I have to walk past your classroom." Ron said just as the bell rang. The two walked out of the room Hermione mumbling on to herself about muffins and goblets of juice.

* * *

**Thank you for continued support with this story, this story is WIP and I am currently editing all the chapters but in total so far there are 30 chapters written. **

**Please continue to support me and leave reviews. If anyone has any song requests then please, leave me a message, when the story was originally written the readers played a large part on Draco's behaviour and song choice. I would like to continue this. **

**Please send me any suggestions!**

**I'm very excited to get back into Sing for the Moment, updates will be regular but if I get more reviews I'm sure I can be shoved into updating more often!**

* * *

"**Summer Love**" is a song by American recording artist Justin Timberlake. The song was written and produced by Timberlake, Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley, and Nate "Danja" Hills, "**Till the End of Time**" is also by Justin. "**When You're Gone**" is a song written by Canadian singer Avril Lavigne and Butch Walker. "**Spider's Web**" is the sixth single of Georgian born songstress Katie Melua and is the third single from her album_._

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. These stories hosted on this website contain characters created and owned by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic, Inc. and AOL/Time Warner, Inc., and may incorporate characters, locations and things created and/or owned by other third parties including but not limited to Joss Whedon, George Lucas and/or Lucas film, Fox, Paramount, Random House, Penguin Putnam, Inc., Ballantine Books, and a lot of other people. No permission has been given and since no money is being made here, no infringement is intended.


	14. Animals

"Pssst… Zabini!" Draco blew his trademark swan shaped letter over to Blaise as he turned around. It landed softly in his palm and he immediately turned around in his seat and opened it. The class was loud enough and busy enough not to notice.

Blaise and Draco were currently in ancient runes and the class was debating about confusion with a translation that was found in a tomb in Egypt. The class had been divided into two debating teams that were on opposite sides of the classroom; Blaise was sitting in front of Draco. It would have been fascinating to Draco on any normal day but he couldn't get Lavender what's-her-face out of his head. And it wasn't good thoughts either.

Blaise unfolded to swan and read Draco's script.

"_Okay, here's the thing Blaise, this 'girlfriend' of mine I actually don't know who she is it's like a blind date thing, we meet in the library on either side of a bookshelf and I have no idea who it is. And she was worried last night about me not liking her once she found out who she was, and I said it didn't matter who she was. But it does, because I was bitching about Lavender in Gryffindor last night to her, then I recognised this mystery girl's owl, and it was Lavenders. What do I do? If this girl is Lavender, I can't like her, she's so… blonde… but even though I suspect it MIGHT be her, I still kind of like her, I'm just a bit put off. Help?"_

Blaise smiled at his friends' stupidity, well it could be worse. He jotted down a reply.

"_Calm down, mystery girl could have borrowed that owl or was sending Lavender something, just sit and think about it logically. And if mystery girl is Lavender then because you really like her, it won't put you off her; no matter how blonde she is… give her a chance. Gryffindors aren't so bad Draco. You can't just ditch this girl now. And what's wrong with Lavender anyway, okay, she's gossip central but… Well, soft curves and long brown hair, big googly green eyes, you know, you might learn to like her :)"_

Blaise watched as Draco read his reply and Draco grinned, a triumphant look in his eyes, he flew the swan back.

"_Dilemma over, she's got brown eyes not green. Thanks Blaise." _Blaise sighed, pocketing the note. He looked back to Draco who gave him thumbs up, he was looking happy again. He watched from afar as his friends started singing under his breath, he could easily hear the words from behind him and he totally agreed with them.

"_Wouldn't it be nice if we were older__? __Then we wouldn't have to wait so long__ and wouldn't it be nice to live together? In the kind of world where we belong,"_Draco sang quietly, Blaise miming the words along with him; it just bought a smile to his face to see Draco back in good mood.

_"You know it's gonna make it that much better when we can say goodnight and stay together. Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up in the morning when the day is new  
and after having spent the day together? Hold each other close the whole night through__…"_ Blaise sang along, tapping his hand on his knee as he stared happily at his singing friend who had just burst loudly into a solo."All in a day's work Blaise, all in a day's work." he congratulated himself.

* * *

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful for the general population of Hogwarts, but most people in Slytherin and Gryffindor had been on the edge of their seats worrying about the potions lesson they had last period. Snape had returned on Saturday only after a day away but they were sure the 'lap dance' incident hadn't been forgotten.

Draco and Blaise were still the only ones happy out of the Slytherin friends. Pansy had avoided them all day, but they weren't too bothered to be honest. And even when Snape stormed into the classroom ten minutes into the lesson it didn't dampen their bight spirits.

Snape stood at the front of the classroom sneering with his arms folded. "Today, were doing truth potions, pair up with someone for the other house, instructions are on the board, now do it." And strangely enough he walked back out the classroom. Hermione quickly (and a subtly as possible) grabbed her bag and sat down next to Draco, Ron ended up with Pansy (much to her dismay) and Harry was with Blaise neither of them looking very bothered by it.

"Erm… Granger? Why are you here?" Draco asked shocked. Why had she off all people paired with him? He turned to look questioningly at Blaise but he was in deep conversation with Harry Potter, who had the biggest smirk on his face he'd ever seen.

"Just thought we could easily get a pass, were both the best in class." Hermione said before walking off to the store room to get ingredients. Draco thought about it for a second then shrugged, well it WAS true. Besides, he could probably sit and do nothing; he suspected Granger would do most the work.

As the lesson progressed Draco found he had been right, in fact he hadn't really lifted a finger, and he was sat swinging on his chair humming to himself quietly. Draco was highly interested at how badly Blaise was flirty with Harry bloody Potter as well. Was that his boyfriend, his dirty little secret? Hmm, well he'd soon find out.

"Blaise?" He said looking up at the boy standing working the other side of him.

"Hmm?" Blaise turned around from Harry and looked down at Draco and stood up stretching.

"A song I was just thinking sounds so familiar; you remember when we went on that road trip?" Draco grinned and Blaise's mouth twitched at the corner. He remembered alright. "You heard that song 'Animals' it was totally that weekend."

"What makes you say that, bring this up?" Blaise asked nervously glancing at Harry briefly who was pretending to be concentrating stirring the potion.

"Dunno, was wondering if now your tied down you'd want a repeat?" Draco asked innocently, Blaise glanced at Harry again and hissed at Draco.

"Fine you got me, it's him but don't sing it. Don't you dare." Draco raised a fine blonde eyebrow.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about Zabini…" Draco opened his mouth after clearing his throat and mocked going to sing, but as soon as he opened his mouth his throat tingled and he looked to Blaise in alarm a second before he jumped onto his chair. Hermione looked alarmed up to Draco and immediately jumped up and joined him, shortly followed by Blaise and then Harry. Blaise and Draco miming to be driving a car and Hermione and Harry clinging onto Draco and Blaise as they acted out the song (in an appropriate manner might I add?) Hermione did it to stop Draco being embarrassed, Blaise to stop Draco being embarrassed, and Harry to stop Blaise and Hermione from being embarrassed. Draco did it because it was all too tempting.

"_You're beside me on the seat, Got your hand between my knees_," Sang Draco and Blaise together. Harry and Hermione put their hands on their partner's legs as Draco and Blaise had their hands on a 'steering wheel.'

"_And you control how fast we go by just how hard you wanna squeeze, it's hard to steer when you're breathing in my ear."_ Hermione started talking into Draco ear. _"But I got both hands on the wheel while you got both hands on my gears."_ The class had stopped and burst out laughing.

"_By now, no doubt that we were heading south,"_ Blaise looked alarmed as Harry actually did go down south and Hermione laughed while singing, this was actually… fun. She didn't care nobody was doing there potions, she just sang with Draco, it was kind of… lifting.

"_I guess nobody ever taught her not to speak with a full mouth, 'Cause this was it, like flicking on a switch!"_ Everyone surrounded the four dancing on their chairs, was laughing, singing or looking shocked_. "It felt so good I almost drove into the ditch_!"

"SING IT!" Hermione shouted and Harry turned and stared at her leaning forward slightly, shocked as she held out her wand to the class as they sang _"I'm screaming!"_

"_No, we're never gonna quit! Ain't nothing wrong with it! Just acting like we're animals! No, no matter where we go! 'Cause everybody knows! We're just a couple of-"_

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? I LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR HALF AN HOUR! AND BY GOD TAKE THE POTIONS OFF THE FIR-"

BOOM! BANG! BOOM! Potion by potion one after another exploded around the classroom, everyone ducked immediately all screaming and making a fuss.

"Oh goody…" Snape said rubbing his hands together as nervous students in his class stood up and looked at him. He smiled. "Detention, all of you, and you four…" He smiled at Harry, Draco, Hermione and Blaise sadistically. "You're coming with me…"

* * *

For the second time in one week Draco found himself in Dumbledore's office with bad company (that being Granger and Potter), the Headmaster was sat thoughtfully sucking on a lemon drop.

"Dancing on chairs you say?" He asked Snape the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.

"Yes, Headmaster." Snape seemed to be the only one in the room not amused.

"Lovely lovely." Dumbledore muttered looking over the top of his spectacles. "You may leave us alone, Severus, I'm sure you've got a potions class to return to." Snape sneered but bowed slightly before walking off.

Dumbledore continued to stare at the teenagers looking extremely amused. "Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore said smiling his eyes twinkling merrily.

"Don't you twinkle at me old man!" Draco said before smacking his hand over his mouth. Dumbledore merely chuckled.

"Such spirit in you four." They exchanged confused looks. "I see what's going on here, there seems to be an awful lot of children infected and baring soul expressions." Blaise looked shocked.

"No, only Draco is infected sir." Blaise corrected.

"Quite the contrary, I believe both Mr. Potter and Miss Granger are also infected with the spell only." Harry's jaw dropped. Everyone turned and stared at him.

"There has to be some mistake-"

"No mistake Harry, I have been hearing a few things lately from… house elves and portraits. It seems Harry you're expression is caring, that is why you were so deeply affected by you fall out with Miss Granger here." Hermione nodded, it did make sense and of course she already knew about her expression. Thanks to Draco. It was weird, she was sitting right next to him and he had no idea.

"Now we need to concentrate of curing you all." Dumbledore said steepling his fingers and looking thoughtfully at them. "Severus has been concocting an antidote for children hit with the spell, but Mr. Malfoy it still remains you have to complete your… 'task'. Have you any leads to what it is?" Draco fidgeted, looking at his ring again.

"I believe sir I have to… fall in love." Harry and Hermione turned and stared in shock.

"I see, and how is it coming along?" Dumbledore questioned sending a knowing look Hermione's way. She almost jumped at the gesture.

"I… I've met a girl I like, she… is really growing on me and I believe I could learn to love her very much." Draco said honestly he hadn't looked up the whole time. So he was oblivious when Harry side glanced at Hermione who had blushed and started coughing to cover up the redness. Blaise tapped her back leaning behind Draco so he could reach.

"Cough it up Muddy, don't cough up any vital organs mind, they might be helpful." Hermione glared at him and moved from his touch. Inside Hermione heart was just about to fail her, Draco Malfoy was planning on falling in love with her. Her of all people, not that she didn't want him to, she totally agreed with his feelings. He was just so… Pure and rich and… So out of her league. She reminded herself that everyone was equal after thinking that and it made her feel much better.

"I'm sure she will feel the same, you are a very… charming young man." Dumbledore continued. Blaise high fived Draco and everyone laughed as Draco sang: "_Oh yeah, I'll be her dream, I'll be her wish I'll be her fantasy, I'll be her hope, I'll be her love, be everything that she needs, I love her more with every breath truly madly deeply!" _Draco giggled and Hermione resisted holding his hand at that moment, she'd never seen him laugh like that, only heard it. It was so tempting, his hand was right there. She could just easily put her hand on top of his, would it change everything, would he even recognise it? How it looked and felt? Probably not.

"Self centered." Harry muttered under his breath, he hated that song… all of Dudley's friends played it on their phones. It was by that Cascada person, he'd liked the Savage Garden version. Wait? How did Malfoy know so much muggle music? Or was it just Ron who was a philistine to music then?

"So, Harry and Hermione, you can be cured today if you go to Madam Pomfrey after dinner, Professor Snape is just finishing the potion today. But you Mr. Malfoy are going to have to do some wooing. I do believe we have no leads on who attacked you last weeks and-"

"You were attacked?" Hermione gasped before she could stop herself. She had no idea about the whole lust potion thing; she had been in the tower. Dumbledore silenced her with a glance. She immediately felt foolish.

"Since we don't have a lead, you are still in danger and with the expression on you are highly venerable. Keep that in mind, and like I said last week, keep an eye on each other. You are dismissed." Dumbledore smiled at them all.

"What no detention?"

"Granger, shut up!" Draco hissed before pushing her out the door then shouting extremely falsely. "Good day, Professor!"

When the four arrived at the bottom of the stairs everything was really awkward. Hermione was staring at her shoes Harry was fiddling with his bag, Blaise was staring off into Space and Draco was deep in though. He should take Mystery girl on a proper date…

"So then? …" Harry tried to start conversation. It didn't work, everyone just turned to him expectantly.

"Look Malfoy." Hermione turned to him desperate now. "Can I talk to you in private?" He looked puzzled but agreed all the same. Hermione needed to tell him, it wasn't right. If he was planning on falling in love with her, then he would know who she was, no matter the consequences. She walked off and he followed, leaving Harry and Blaise alone side glancing at each other, Harry shy and Blaise looking cheekily his way.

* * *

"**Animals**" is the second single by Canadian rock band Nickelback off their fifth studio album _All the Right Reasons_. "**Truly Madly Deeply**" is a song by Australian pop band Savage Garden recorded between 1995 and 1996, released as a single in 1997. Written by bandmates Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones. Cascada covered "Truly Madly Deeply" on the album _Everytime We Touch_ and released it as the second single in the UK and Germany.

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	15. I Think we're Alone Now

As soon as Granger had said she wanted to talk alone with Draco, he was surprised that he actually agreed. They were walking through a corridor but he wasn't really sure which one it was, he was more focused on the fact he had sweaty palms and his heart was beating faster than normal. And dare he accept it? He was… nervous!

Draco Malfoy was never nervous. He was in the top five richest underage wizards in the UK; right before Blaise might he add? He was in the top ten most wanted eligible bachelors from here to France for the daughters of some of the most respected businessmen. He had scuba dived in America, explored in Antarctica, went cave diving in South Africa, hunting in Switzerland, explored tombs in Egypt and spoke three times at the World Purity Gathering in front of a million wizards from worldwide, he could speak 5 languages and had the best grades and had no reason to be nervous at all! Oh and he'd met Keira Knightly! So why could Granger make him feel like this? So… Nervous?

And he was pretty sure when he was in the office he had been so tempted to reach for her hand; it had been right next to his. Maybe it was mystery girl, she was making him mushy, and he couldn't go around holding people's hands could he? And it was Granger, yes she was a lovely girl (not like he'd admit it out loud) but he was seeing someone… kind of.

"Note to self, find out dating situation…" He muttered to himself. Hermione turned looking at him strange.

"Did you say something, Dra- Malfoy?" Hermione winced at her slip up. He smirked.

"You can call me Draco if you want Granger, my names not acid, it's not going to dissolve your mouth." Hermione didn't answer so Draco went back to his internal monologue.

Why was Granger making him nervous? It was weird. He was normally confident but he was actually feeling a little dizzy. Or was it Grangers perfume? Jasmine and something spicy. Where had he smelt that? Oh yes, Pansy. It was that one by Dior was it? Maybe? He wasn't sure, but no; something was picking at the back of his mind that wasn't where he recognised it at all. He ran all the girls he knew through his head, Milly, Jessica, his mother? No it was far too cheap for her taste. And then he remembered. He had to force himself to keep walking as everything clicked into place. It was Granger, she was Granger. MYSTERY GIRL IS GRANGER! Or was he over reacting again? He wrung his hands together looking at her from the corner of his eyes.

She was very pretty, and now he looked at her and KNEW she was his mystery girl, everything made sense. How could he have been so dense? It was the most obvious thing ever. He looked down at every detail of her face, he had never actually realised how breathtaking Hermione Granger was. She had a medium complexion, not dark but sun kissed. Long black eye lashes and tiny freckles on her nose. Her hair wasn't so much frizzy as he thought it had been it was just very thick. He stared at the curve of her lips from the side, they were a light shade and pink and as she licked her lips nervously, Draco found himself biting his bottom lip. He put his hands into his pockets, and blushed walking with his head down.

This was Granger and he was practically drooling over her, what was wrong with him? She was just a mudbl… he couldn't say it. Oh my god it MUST be her. But what if it wasn't her? 'But it is!' Said the Blaise voice again. Everything fit too perfectly, it couldn't be a coincidence. It was disturbing how fast he had adjusted to the idea of it being Hermione. If it wasn't he would be awfully disappointed. She was perfect for him, she was smart, held interesting conversation, was funny, had all the right morals, and was very attractive. Draco blushed at that thought again.

"Are you okay Draco?" Hearing the voice louder than that usual whisper, it was quite high and each word was clearly pronounced, she had been bought up well, he could tell. He 'hmmed' in response to her question. He could feel her staring at him; he could just picture the concern on her face.

As he looked down he kept getting a glimpse of her shoe as she lead them to god knows where. They were simple Mary Janes, like the ones most the girls wore. White socks were folded neatly and as didn't even realise as his eyes travelled up further to her well shaped legs, they looked so soft. Her skirt was at her knee, not an inch higher. Draco smiled, she was a descent girl, hard to find these days.

"Hey, erm… Hermione?" The name felt weird but nice on his tongue. "Where are we going?"

"Well, actually we're going to the library, I need to explain a few things, and it's-"

"Good for privacy." She nodded at him semi-smiling, it looked as though she wasn't sure whether she wanted to smile or not. It looked cute on her. Draco smiled at her and her lips decided she did want too as she smiled back.

Draco wiped his sweaty hands on his trousers thinking, she was going to admit it to him. That was a very selfless thing to do and it made him smile even more, Merlin this girl was one in a million. He could tell she was completely petrified of being rejected. He had meant what he said last night, he already liked her it was too late now; she was stuck with him now.

They walked in silence until they reached the tall open doors of the library and Hermione hesitated before stepping over the threshold of the room, where the stone floor of the hallway turned into a warm crimson carpet. Instantly the smell of new books and furniture polish hit Draco and he stared fondly at the bookcases as he walked past them. When they stopped he realised they had reached bookshelf that they sat back to back against. Hermione stopped walking and turned to Draco who took his hands from out of his trouser pockets. She looked at him and opened her mouth to start talking but no words came.

"Take your time." Draco said sincerely, giving her encouragement. After all he couldn't say anything in case he was horribly wrong. She took a deep breath and looked straight into his eyes.

"Draco, I've bought you here to this spot because it means a lot to me. I have a lot of memories here, nice ones, and I happen to know that you so as well. It's really hard for me to try and tell you this; I'm so scared of what you might think. I might not be pretty or funny and I'm not pureblood and to be honest I haven't got a Knut to my name! I," Draco interrupted by closing the space between them and pressing his lips lightly to hers, holding it for a few seconds. He felt her sharply intake her breath but didn't see her eyes widen in shock because his were already closed.

Hermione had never been kissed before, not on the lips and certainly not like this, this was innocent and full of feelings she didn't even know existed. And slowly her eyes fluttered closed as it was held for a second longer. Draco stepped away slowly and looked unsurely at her. Both of them were speechless.

"I think, erm… you know, don't you?" Hermione said looking petrified. Draco nodded a blush slowly forming.

"I'm sorry I kissed you, I could tell you were going to tell me, so I thought I'd make it easier for you." She smiled.

"Erm, thank you I guess," she said shyly tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "But…why?"

"Isn't it clear?" She wanted it to be what she was thinking; she really did, but was it too good to be true? Draco bit his lip shyly and looked through his light fringe at her. He knew what was coming. She shook her head slowly; he could tell she just wanted to hear him say it.

"Hermione, will you be my girlfriend?" Draco reached for her hand and grabbed it kissing her hand once. 'What a charmer.' Hermione thought to herself before nodding with a huge smile playing at her lips. Draco pulled her into a hug.

"_I can see us holding hands, walking on the beach our toes in the sand, I can see us in the countryside, sitting on the railways side by side, you can be my baby, I'm lucky you're my lady, girl you amaze me, all I want you to do is be my love."_ Hermione was almost speechless at his expression. Almost.

"I can't believe you want me, I'm so poor and inferior and you're my boyfriend!" Hermione was completely overwhelmed. 'Someone please pinch me!' she thought to herself.

"Hermione." he whispered into her ear. She shivered, holding on tighter to Draco, he was taller than her and he smelt amazing she snuggled further into his shoulder. This was a dream come true. "Stop thinking, just… feel." Hermione looked up at him her eyes watering with happiness, he looked down at her, eyes happy and a huge smile on his face, just before he hesitantly leaned down and they both experienced there first real kiss.

* * *

A few minutes later Draco found himself being dragged by his hand out of the library by Hermione, running full speed and laughing his head off. They had been enjoying the kiss immensely, it was very cute and they both didn't have a clue what they were doing but all the same it was very… nice. Yes it had been a thrilling experience, until Madam Pince had spotted them through a gap in a book shelf, she had been so shocked she had fallen of the ladder she was using to stack away books; thankfully she hadn't been too high. They collapsed against the nearest wall laughing uncontrollably at the memory of the look on her face. They both knew that that could NOT happen again. So then immediately stopped when they realised they were both still holding hands and a group of Ravinclaws were staring at them. They both snatched their hands away and starting fighting!

"Malfoy, you bitch!" Hermione said after slapping him around the face and storming off, leaving Malfoy yelling after her,

"God Granger, you're a feisty one!" Draco held his flaming cheek and ran after her giggling like a maniac as he chased her down the corridor, her laughing just as madly as him.

He just couldn't believe how much fun he was having with Hermione and he had decided she was definitely going to be called Hermione since she was his first sweetheart. Hermione turned around sliding slightly on the polished floor a huge smile on her face and Draco stopped abruptly staring at her in amazement, how had he never noticed Hermione before? She was stunning; she was more than stunning she was exquisite and such a perfect match with him. Or at least he thought so. He was then gripped back into reality when she ran down the corridor again and he followed her only for her to turn back his way and grab his hand pulling him in the other direction.

"Snape!" She giggled; she was wise to do this because as soon as Snape had noticed them, they could hear him calling for them to stop. They turned the corner just as Draco burst into song, _"Running just as fast as we can, holding onto one another hands, trying to get away into the night_," Hermione sharply pulled him into a classroom and he slammed the door.

"_And then you put your arms around me_?" Hermione said as she sat on a desk and Draco hugged her close.

"_And then we tumble to the ground_?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows still singing but slower, she shook her head 'no'.

"You're line is '_and then you say'_ Draco."

"Oh right." He mumbled into her hair. He pulled away gently looking into her chocolate eyes and noticing how flushed her cheeks were from running, or was she blushing? He wasn't sure either way. He held out his hand and bowed slightly offering her a dance. She smiled, sliding off the table and curtsying before slipping her hand into his and then holding him close and they swayed in a slow caress. _"I think we're alone now. There doesn't seem to be anyone around, I think we're alone now, the beating of our hearts is the only sound. Look at the way, we got to hide what we're doing. 'Cause what would they say? If they ever knew, so we were running just as fast…"_ Draco sang and sang in his soft voice into Hermione's ear, both dancing slowly as they got to know each other for the first time properly.

It wasn't until around half an hour later that they had decided they didn't want to leave just yet so going to dinner wasn't an option and Draco being the gentleman he was, decided to invite her back to the common room.

"Hey, erm… I was wondering if you'd like to come back to my common room? Everyone should be going to dinner soon, it's around half five I think, and we'd be a lot more comfortable there than in here." Draco rambled on slightly, he had never asked anyone back to the dorm before, other than Pansy, but it wasn't the same because if it had been it would be mortally scarring to him.

Hermione looked up from his chest where she was resting her head. They were both curled up together on the floor of the classroom in the corner. "Yeah, that would be great, but what about the other Slytherins?" She said asked slightly concerned as she snuggled further into his chest, trying to memorise everything about him. She didn't want her meeting with Draco to end on a bad note because of the closed minded occupants of the Slytherin Dormitory.

"They will be fine, Crabbe and Goyle will be at dinner, Blaise is family so he won't care and Pansy's not speaking to me anyway, and anyone else I don't really care about. They can think what they want; they wouldn't dare say anything to you, in fear of me; well my dad." Hermione smiled, it was nice he wasn't embarrassed by her. But she still couldn't help but feel he was too good for her.

"Okay then, that would be lovely, should we go to the kitchen and get some dinner then eat together in your dorm maybe?" Hermione blushed; she was going back to a boy's dorm. She felt kind of immature because all of her friends were going through this in like fourth year but this was all new to her and Draco. And she kind of liked they were just as inexperienced as each other, Draco because he was supposed to be having an arranged marriage and herself because no-one had managed to see past her bookish exterior.

"Yeah, should we go then?" He mumbled she felt so tiny in his arms; those clothes made her look at lot bigger than she really was. He felt her nod against him, he put his head on top of hers and kissed her hair, neither of them moved, far too comfortable in each other arms, but soon the numbness of their bums was all too much so they stood up. Hermione watched as Draco immediately straightened his robe and wiped his bum free of any dirt, he was so particular. But then again so was she, they were perfect! She was so happy about the compatibilities, well if you ignored the social status and financial income. They really did need to talk about this, she didn't want him to wake up one day and realise he was really with a… a 'mudblood' as he used to say. She wouldn't be able to bare the heartbreak.

They walked down to the kitchens, her holding onto his elbow so they could easily spring apart if someone was to see them. When they arrived Draco asked for two dinners from the house elves. The elf handed the first one into Draco left hand.

"That is for you master Draco." He said, they another one appeared and handed it to Draco's right hand. "And that one is being for Little Miss Granger." He bowed and disappeared. Hermione pulled out her wand and put a heat spell on them so they wouldn't go cold on the journey down. So Draco held the dinners as they sneaked down to the dungeons, Hermione standing in front keeping a watch for students.

"Draco, why have we got different dinners?" Hermione asked looking at the two white plates in his hands. They had completely different meals on them. Draco smiled.

"Vegetarian option." Hermione looked at him shocked, her mouth opening slightly.

"You're a vegetarian? I'm surprised."

"I could tell," Draco smiled. "Yes, my whole family is actually, I've never eaten meat in my life, don't have a clue what it tastes like and I'm glad. Those poor animals." Hermione almost beamed at him.

"That's very un-Malfoy-ish, isn't it? Wouldn't animals be… inferior?" Hermione asked cautiously, she had grown up thinking Draco had been heartless and the more she knew him the more she realised she was completely wrong. Draco shook his head 'no'

"No, but it's quite an interesting story actually, my mother loves animals so she doesn't eat meat because it's cruel. My dad thinks they're inferior so he doesn't eat them because he might catch something. He's very picky about things like that. "

"And paranoid?"

"To put it politely, fuck yes!" Hermione laughed but then scolded him about his bad language, he apologised. For the remainder of the journey they chatted about weird things their parents believed and did, it was quite an interesting conversation and Hermione was surprised when they arrived so fast. She was also surprised it was a wall; she had been expecting a portrait. Draco whispered the password and Hermione covered her ears for common courtesy.

When she walked in and took her first look at the common room Hermione yelped and turned around covering her eyes. They felt like they were bleeding. "Harry!" She screeched. Draco just stood and staring half in disbelief and the other half in amazement.

Blaise and Harry was on one of the couches kissing VERY passionately, both of them had their shirts undone, Harry's hands were buried in Blaise's hair as he straddled him and Blaise had one hand down Harry's undone trousers and the other on his back. Harry sprung away from Blaise getting up from the settee and facing the other way doing up his shirt and trousers.

"Hermione! What are you doing here?" He gasped shocked and not turning around as he fiddled with his trouser zip, Hermione span around.

"Me? You're asking me? I'm not the one practically having sex in the Slytherin dorms." She pointed out, she didn't sound angry just in shock.

"Yes you, you're the one having dinner with Malfoy by the looks of it!" Harry said as he turned around for the first time noticing the plates of still streaming food.

"You knew I was with Draco!" At this Draco looked surprised. Hermione's temper was starting to rise; he was turning the situation around on her.

"Yes but…" Harry tried to argue.

"But nothing!" She yelled.

"Hermione? Why are we fighting?" Harry yelled back seriously.

"I have no idea!" She said still stressing and shouting. Harry burst out laughing and Hermione managed a weak smile but then she was soon smiling properly. Blaise and Draco shrugged at their partners' madness.

Draco walked over to Blaise and plopped down next to him putting the food on the table. Blaise wasn't really that bothered that Draco was seeing Hermione, after all he was seeing Harry and Draco had took it brilliantly. The least he could do was return his blessing and he knew Draco would need it; this was Draco's first relationship and he was normally very strict about seeing people. Last summer, they had went on a road trip when Blaise had got his driver's licence, Blaise had spent the whole holiday messing around with girls but Draco only looked and never touched. So he was very surprised when Draco had said thank you to him that day, when he had admitted it was him that administered the potion.

"So," Said Blaise as he duplicated Hermione's meal twice and handing one to Harry and starting to eat the other his self; receiving a glare from Hermione, but this didn't stop her duplicating her cutlery for them as well. "How did you find out she was Granger?"

"Actually, Hermione told me, well tried to." Draco corrected himself as he chewed his food slowly. As Hermione watched him eat she felt very self conscious, he was sitting straight, with his cutlery in the correct hands and cutting his food and eating in a royal manor. She tried to copy him slyly. Draco realised what she was doing and immediately tried to eat a little sloppier. But then she figured he's done it on purpose so it backfired on Draco when she tried even harder to eat like him. He tutted before continuing. "She took me to library and tried to explain, but just babbled so… so I kissed her, I certainly shut her up.

Harry looked alarmed as Blaise started to choke on his food. He tapped his back. Blaise raised an eyebrow after Harry had saved him from suffocating on chicken. "You kissed her, that's very courageous for you isn't it?"

"Actually yes, I didn't have a clue what I was doing; I kind of just went with it." Draco answered shyly blushing as Hermione smiled at him.

"So Harry, I'm taking this is what you couldn't tell us earlier? It was that you were with Blaise?"

"Duh, Hermione!" Hermione slapped him on the side on the head playfully. "Yes, it was, you don't mind do you?"

"Not at all, if I did I would be an awful big hypocrite wouldn't I?" She said glancing at Draco who was in a heated discussion about Madam Pince falling of the ladder with Blaise. "I can't believe he wants me." She muttered to herself, taking in every detail about him. He was perfect.

"What?" Harry said looking confused at her.

"Do you ever feel like you're not good enough? We're dating the richest purest guys in the school, in the whole of England maybe. And Draco has an arranged marriage. Will he want me then?" Harry looked sad for a moment and Hermione could see he kind of felt the same way.

"Yeah, sometimes. Blaise has an arranged marriage too but he's look his ring off. I feel bad; I don't want him to throw his future away for me. I'm… not worth it."

"I feel the exact same, Harry!" Hermione replied, totally forgetting about her food. "They're gorgeous, rich, pureblooded, Slytherin and,"

"You make it sound really bad!"

"You would say that, you're rich as well and you're only a half blood, normally stuff like this doesn't matter to me, so why does it now?"

"Love does strange things."

"I don't love him, I don't." Hermione sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than Harry. "Well, he sure doesn't love me yet, he's still got his expression."

"But he's planning on falling in love with you Hermione. Just accept it, that's what I've had to do. Trust me, I know what you mean, but it's paranoia okay? I felt like that a first but then you get used to their snobby ways and them flaunting there cash and stuff." Harry shrugged returning to his meal.

"But Harry-"

"You know Hermione, it would be better if you two didn't have this conversation while sitting across from your boyfriends." Draco pointed out and Blaise laughed. "What can I do to convince you, what I fell for you is real. I want us to last a long time. Sure we've just met really, but you've grown on me, I adore you. I worship the ground you walk on." Hermione tutted. "No really, you want to know how I feel? Because really I'll tell you, but just this once, I'm normally not a mushy person. I'm not used to this but I'll try. Soul expression in 5,4,3,2..." Draco counted down as he felt his stomach whirl and his throat tingling and it wasn't that nice when he'd just finished eating.

Suddenly Draco pulled Hermione up from the sofa and started dancing a salsa with her. "_What happens if my head stays in my head, but what if it won't? What if you knew what I was thinking? Would it make you like wow?"_ He sang as he span her out, and then pulled her back in. _"I don't wanna risk putting my foot in it, so I keep my mouth closed!_" He sang as he dipped her dropping her back onto the couch and the puling Blaise into a cancan on the sofa. "_Gunna button my lips, so the truth don't slip! Gunna peep out what I really wanna shout!"_ he yelled as jumped onto the coffee table kicking their plates onto the floor. "_Woops, did I say it out loud? Did you find out?"_ He covered his hand pretending to go shy. _"I wanna have your babies, get serious like crazy! I wanna have your babies, see them springing up like daisies! Yeh!"_ Draco grinned as he jumped off the table and then sat on it.

"_Some of my feelings keep escaping so I make it a joke," _He laughed breaking the song for a second. "_And I try to please you, so my heart don't get broke!"_ Hermione cut him off by pulling him off the table and into their second kiss, it was different to the first one, a bit more comfortable. Hermione tried to tell him all the things that she just couldn't tell him in it. Like how he had just made her feel, so secure and loved. It was crazy that another person could make you feel like that. But she didn't care. And at that moment, she accepted she was falling in love with Draco Malfoy. Draco kissed her on the cheek as he pulled away slowly only to pull her into a tight hug and pick her up holding her close as possible. He never wanted to let go!

* * *

Hermione and Harry left the Slytherin common room at half past seven just before people started to come back from dinner, explaining to Blaise and Draco that they had to go get the expression antidotes. Draco and Blaise were left lying on their beds with huge smiles on their faces.

"I understand why Pansy was a bit funny with it, after all, he's Saint Potter." Draco said, it was only him and Blaise who were in there, normally Theodore was back by time now but he obviously had other arrangements tonight.

"Oh believe me, he's no saint, he's quite the opposite actually, did he look like a saint today when he was-"

"Do not finish that sentence, my mind's already been filled with filth by those rumours. I don't need any more there." Draco said sternly, meaning every word he said. Predictably, Blaise chuckled.

"Hey, before you interrupted my stream of thought Dray, I was just about to say, you're singing a lot less than you usually do. Do you think it's because you're starting to fall for her?" Draco smiled staring up at the bed canopy.

"Most likely, it's so strange to think, I have a girlfriend. Hermione Granger is my girlfriend."

"Are you disappointed it's her?"

"Not at all, I'm very pleased actually, I think she's perfect."

"She is very pretty, yes." Blaise agreed. It was nice to be able to talk openly about relationships with his best mate. He had got so sick of hiding everything and to have Draco's approval was a blessing.

Silence.

"Hey, Dray?"

"Yes, Blaise?"

"What are we going to do about our marriages?"

"We'll see when the time comes."

Silence.

"Hey, Dray?"

"Yes, Blaise?"

"Do you ever think Harry would marry me?"

"I don't know Blaise. Why don't you ask him?"

"I wouldn't know how…"

"Draco!" "Blaise!" Two different voices yelled simultaneously before the bedroom door was slammed open. Both boys sat up in bed frightened to death.

"What!" They yelled as a very flustered looking Hermione and Harry bursted through the doors.

"It's Snape!" Harry said. "He's gone missing."

* * *

"**My Love**" is a song by American singer–songwriter Justin Timberlake from his second studio album, _FutureSex/LoveSounds_ (2006). "**I Think We're Alone Now**" is a song written by Ritchie Cordell. Tommy James & the Shondells, Tiffany, The Rubinoos and Girls Aloud have all covered this song. "**I Wanna Have Your Babies**" is a pop song written by Natasha Bedingfield, Steve Kipner, Andrew Frampton and Wayne Wilkins.

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	16. In Any other World

Draco, Blaise, Hermione and Harry were running into the Great Hall from the common room. As soon as Harry and Hermione had burst into the dormitory, a magnified voice belonging to Dumbledore declared that everyone had to report to the Great Hall immediately. When they got there they were surprised to find their names hovering over their usual seats in a silver glowing script, so the four split off and sat with their houses instead of with each other. That would be way too suspicious anyway.

Harry and Hermione sat down next to Ron who was really confused by the look of it. The hall was full of chatter from the students, wondering why they had been summoned all of a sudden. Soon the older students started to notice Snape wasn't at the heads table.

"Guys, do you have any idea what's going on?" Ron asked, looking flabbergasted. They had all just left the hall as dinner had just finished, why were they being called back? It was not even fifteen minutes later. Harry held up a hand silencing him and Hermione gave him a look clearly to say 'shut up!' Ron looked offended for a second and then focused his attention onto the teachers table. He was just about to complain about Snape not being there but obviously Hermione had seen it coming and smacked on the side of his head before he had a chance to speak. She then put her finger to her lips and 'shh'ed.

As the last of the students arrived the silver of the last name disappeared and Dumbledore took note that everyone else was here. He stood up addressing his students.

"It has come to my attention that Professor Snape is not on Hogwarts grounds. Without informing anyone prior to his obviously hurried departure, it is clear it was not voluntary. Has by any chance, Professor Snape contacted anyone in this room before dinner today? That is when it seemed he disappeared." Professor Dumbledore announced, looking at blank faces, not that many people looked affected by the Professors dissapearance.

"Very well then, all report to your dormitories, anyone out of bed will have detention with Mr. Filch." He knew he was being harsh, especially as Filch looked rather happy, Mrs. Norris purring at his feet. "But could the following people go to my office immediately, Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, Miss Parkinson, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Zabini, Mr. Crabbe, Miss Granger and Mr. Goyle. Mr Potter could you go and get the 'map' please. Thank you." He walked away out of the back door leaving the student to file out.

Ron looked at Hermione and Harry about to ask questions but they both just brushed him off. "We'll explain later, Ron." Hermione said dismissing his inquiry and craning her neck over the students trying to spot Draco and his friends.

"I'll be back in a minute, guys, just getting the map."

"What does Dumbledore need the map for?" Ron asked and Hermione almost banged her head on the table at his stupidity.

"Harry, don't go on your own!" Hermione gasped, grabbed his sleeve hurriedly and wove her hand in the air at the direction she could see platinum blonde hair. In less than twenty seconds they were surrounded by Slytherins. Hermione let go of Harry.

"Blaise, go with Harry to get the map, can't have Harry Potter wandering around on his own." Blaise didn't argue he just followed Harry out the room, wand in his left hand preparing to defend his boyfriend.

Ron and Hermione stood awkwardly staring at the Slytherins in front of them; they had kind of formed a 'V' defence structure, Draco standing at the front. "We best get going, come on." He walked off leading the way to Dumbledore's office, everyone in silence until they reached the statue.

"What's the password?" Ron said looking around at everyone. Hermione shrugged, she didn't know.

"Mars Bar." Draco said from beside her smirking and watching everyone file up. "We we're all just here earlier, how could you not remember, that memory of your failing honey?" Draco asked innocently as they walked up the steps behind everyone. The tone was slightly tormenting but she could tell he was only playing. She blushed as he slyly held her hand up the stairs. Hermione was sure she was going to cardiac arrest when he had called her 'honey'.

As they arrived in the office they found that seven chairs were surrounding Dumbledore's desk in a circle, the desk had been cleared and there was a pot of tea and several cups there. And of course, lemon drops. They all sat down waiting in silence for Dumbledore and for Harry and Blaise to return with the map.

Soon Ron noticed that Hermione was sitting really close to Draco and he was sure he was holding her hand. He stood up and leaned over the table and he was right.

"Hermione! Don't hold that ferrets hand?" He yelled, arms flying madly pointing at Draco. Draco didn't like to be pointed at.

"Problem, Weasley?" Draco snared, spitting the word 'Weasley' like poison. He stood up to his full height of 6 foot 2 inches, a little smaller than Ron but he was still intimidating with the full Malfoy sneer in place. Hermione ignored the fact she felt all tingly being on the protected side of that smirk. She pulled him down by his sleeve and he fell back into his chair glaring at her then folding his arms in a mood.

"Ron, Draco. Don't fight!"

"Hermione! What's got into you?"

"You know what's got into me, now leave it!" Hermione glared at him across the table, holding onto the edges so hard her knuckles were white.

"Hermione, cats out the bag! Pansy, I'm seeing Granger, Crabbe and Goyle that means Hermione's my girlfriend, Weasley, that means she's not yours and won't ever be! Okay? I'm glad we cleared that up!" Everyone in the room looked shocked apart from Ron who looked completely fucked off.

"Well, I don't like him." Ron said childishly.

"Good, I don't want you to like me, your names not worth shit on my shoe!"

"Draco!" Hermione yelled, smacking the side of his head hard. He winced and shut up.

"Well… I hate you." Ron muttered his expression a permanent frown. "Even if she loves you, I hate you."

Draco smirked and leaned across the table_. "Love me or hate me, it's still an obsession, love me or hate me? That is the question, if you love me then, thank you."_ he winked at Hermione then turned back to Ron. _"And if you hate me then… fuck you."_ Ron turned bright red even to the tips of his ears.

"How creative." Pansy muttered back, she had come around from shock now, Crabbe and Goyle were still processing the equation of Hermione Granger + Draco Malfoy = Girlfriend + Boyfriend. "Draco, now answer me this, what the FUCK do you see in that Mudblood?" Pansy was over the shock but not the anger.

"Pansy, really, don't ask me things like that it's personal."

Tingle.

Swirl.

"PANSY YOU BITCH YOU JUST ACTIVATED AN EXPRES_… She ain't got no money, her clothes are kinda funny, her hair is kinda wild and free, Oh, but love grows where Hermione goes! And nobody knows like me!"_ Pansy smacked her head with her hand, great… now to try and snap him out of it.

"Earth calling Draco!" Pansy yelled frustrated, Ron looked like he was just about to eat Draco alive.

_"She never talks lazy, and people say she's crazy, and her life's a mystery! Oh, but Love grows where Hermione goes! And nobody knows like me!"  
_

"Oi, Dray!" Goyle clicked his fingers in front of his face but Draco seemed to have zoned out with a loving expression on his face, giving him the appearance of a love sick teenager.

"_There's something about her hand holding mine, it's a feeling that's fine, And I just gotta say, she's really good at magical spells, and it's working so well that I can't get away_!" He sighed love sick.

"Finally, he shut up," Pansy muttered darkly.

_"I'm a lucky fella, and I've just got to tell her-"_

"That's it! I'M GUNNA KILL HIM!"

"Weasley don't you dare!" Pansy seethed at him. Hermione though it was nice Pansy was defending her friend even though she didn't agree with what he was going. "Because I wanna do it!" Or not, Hermione rolled her eyes. Ron and Pansy started fighting in the corner.

"_That I love her endlessly, because Love grows_," Draco was cut off when Hermione grabbed him by the tie and kissed him shutting him up. Ron and Pansy looked as if they were going to throw up as Hermione and Draco made out the other side of the table.

"Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger, although a lovely expression of feeling that is not appropriate," Dumbledore said as he walked in followed by Harry and Blaise who closed the oak door behind them. Dumbledore waved his wand and cast a silencing charm on the room.

"Okay, is everyone comfortable? Help yourself to refreshment." he looked around at everyone, trying to smile at the seven students but seeing their grim faces there was no point pretending. "Okay, to the point then yes? Professor Snape is missing and I really have no idea where he might have gone. But I do suspect, there had been a breach of security, Severus would never leave without informing anyone of anything." Draco and Pansy nodded knowing Snape very well.

"So I called you here to ask for a second opinion." Pansy looked shocked at this and almost choked on the tea she had just poured.

"I was just in Severus's quarters, all his belongings are there, including his wand, which I have now, and there was no sign of a struggle or anything like that. But I do believe he was taken because of these soul expressions. Miss Granger and Mr Potter were both supposed to be cured today after dinner and that was when Severus went missing, along with any traces of the cure."

"Harry had an expression?" Ron spoke calm now, more curious and confused than anything else.

"Apparently it was caring." Draco snickered. Typical Potter.

"Yes, but now we've got the matter of a Malfoy, the smartest witch in the school and Harry Potter in soul expressions, I believe someone from the outside cast the expression to make weaknesses on the most valuable students." Dumbledore thought out loud. Blaise looked guiltily and Pansy glared at him, daring him to tell. He took a deep breath.

"It was me."

"Sorry? Mr Zabini?"

"I put the expression on Draco so he could fall in love and wouldn't turn out like his father I didn't know it would reflect." Dumbledore put his cup down and massaged his temples thinking. "Very well." He wasn't heard though because Harry had stood up and started yelling at Blaise.

"IT WAS YOU! OH MY GOD, YOU ARSE! I WAS WALKING AROUND PRACTICALLY SUICIDAL THINKING IT WAS ME AND I'D BEEN POSSESSED BY VOLDEMORT OR SOMETHING AND IT WAS YOU PLAYING MATCHMAKER!" Harry yelled at his shocked boyfriend.

"Mr Zabini, ignore him, it's the potion talking." But Blaise didn't ignore him he let the words sink in then he burst out crying. Harry seeing what he had done started to panic.

"Oh Blaise, no don't cry!" But Blaise continued to cry into his hands. Harry looked panicked.

"See what I mean about the crying thing, he NEVER used to be like that, bet he's got an expression too." Draco whispered to Hermione before turning to Harry. "Potter move, swap seats with me."

"WHAT NO! Blaise, I love you, I'm sorry don't cry!" Harry said flapping his hands about not knowing what to do. Ron sat staring turning slightly green as his brain slowly worked out what was going on.

"Potter, move by Hermione, NOW!" Draco said standing up and walking around the table then pulling Harry out the way forcefully as he sat in his place and hugged Blaise who started crying to his shoulder and whispering in his ear. Draco rubbed his back understandingly.

Ron glared daggers at Harry, Hermione and Harry looked jealous, Pansy looked pissed off in the Gryffindor direction, Crabbe and Goyle looked confused and Dumbledore ate a lemon drop.

"Harry, are you sleeping with that Slytherin?" Ron hissed under his breath even though it was clear everyone could hear him.

"Yes, he is actually." Pansy declared.

"Draco, are you sure you and Blaise don't have-"

"GOYLE, WE DON'T HAVE SEX!" Now that got Hermione and Harry annoyed and they stood up abruptly and started yelling, Blaise cried harder and Draco whipped out his wand at Ron who called Blaise disgusting. Harry also defending his boyfriend beat Draco to any injuries as he punched Ron in the Jaw, Hermione screamed, Pansy laughed, Goyle kicked him and Dumbledore sang. Yes that right, he sang, quietly at first then gradually louder, still at in his chair sipping his tea.

"Oh happy days, oh happy days, when Jesus washed, oh when Jesus washed, he washed his sins away. Oh happy days! OH HAPPY DAYS!" Everyone stopped one by one and looked at the old man as if he was mad. "Now, have you all finished hurting your friends yet?" Everyone looked guiltily around and sat back down. "We were talking about Severus, you know? That potions master! The one's that missing! I'm disappointed in you! I thought I told you seven to look after each other." A mumble of 'sorry' could be heard from around the room.

"Now as we was discussing, where was we?"

"The potion Blaise made."

"Oh yes, well seems Mr Zabini made the potion and spell then it seems I was wrong, but does everyone agree the Professor could have been taken because of that." Everyone nodded.

"Well, first things first," Harry said standing up and pulling the map out of the back of his trousers and handing it to Dumbledore.

"Oh yes, had forgotten, memories not what it used to be."

"What's that?" Said the Slytherin boys.

"This is by no means to be repeated to anyone." Dumbledore said staring pointedly at each Slytherin in turn. "This is the Marauders map and belongs to Mr Potter here, it is, simply speaking; a map of Hogwarts, a very useful map. Would you like to do the honours Harry?" Harry and Dumbledore opened the map together, it almost filled the whole table and people had to pick up cups and put them on top of it. Harry whipped out his wand and Blaise and Draco looked alarmed for a second but it disappeared as soon as they watched him tap the map.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." A huge smile broke out on Blaise and Draco's faces as they watched tiny lines form into words and everyone leant in and read.

'_Mssrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs proudly present: The Marauders Map.'_

'_Mr Moony would like to say there had been strange occurrences.'_

'_Mr Padfoot would like to agree with Moony.'_

'_Mr Prongs would like to inform you a certain Snivelling Slytherin was suspicious.'_

"Snivelling Slytherin?"

"Harry? Since when does the map so this?" Hermione asked shocked.

"I put a progress spell on it, it tells me anything that shouldn't be able to happen in Hogwarts like if someone had apparated, or people going into the wrong houses, or people going off grounds, thought it would be helpful."

"Yeah, but 'Snivelling Slytherin'?" Pansy asked.

"Snape, they used to call him Snivellus."

"Who?" Draco asked pushing the matter; this thing had to be made by geniuses.

"My dad, Sirius black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew." Draco took it back. Great! Voldemort's right hand man, a werewolf, a murderer and a dead guy. What a lovely bunch of people! And he still wasn't sure why they had called it a map though, all it did was speak. Kind of.

"Harry read!" Hermione hissed as more writing appeared. They gathered around again, Dumbledore reading upside down.

'_Mr Wormtail would like to put in account of 3 unknown people arriving into the building.'_

'_Moony agrees it's very strange indeed'_

'_Because then: SEVERUS ACAYON SNAPE, POTIONS MASTER OF HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY, SLYTHERIN HEAD OF HOUSE, ORDER OF MERLIN 3__RD__ CLASS' disappeared off the premises when walking to the hospital wing.'_

'_Mr Prongs would like to remind you this is Snivillus.' _

The writing disappeared and then suddenly Draco understood why it was a map, and some map it was! It had the entire castle on there, secret passage ways, passwords, and even people were marked. He watched the Slytherins walking around in the common room, and stared at Theodore, who was in the dormitory as usual.

"Poor Professor Snape! Who would do that?" Hermione asked shocked leaning against Harry who put an arms around her.

"_In any other world you could tell the difference and let it all unfurl into broken remnants. Smile like you mean it and let yourself let go. 'Cos it's all in the hands of a bitter, bitter man  
Say goodbye to the world you thought you lived in. Take a bow, play the part of a lonely lonely heart. Say goodbye to the world you thought you lived in. To the world you thought you lived in.__"_

"Although highly endearing Mr Malfoy we don't have time, I'm sure your referring to Voldemort." Harry was surprised to see no-one wince as Dumbledore said this.

"That's the one, couldn't get my words out." Draco said.

"Well, that is certainly a huge possibility. Oh hang on; Mr Puse is out of bed. Mr Weasley fire call Professor McGonagall and inform her that Mr Puse is on the fourth floor corridor heading for the Ravinclaw common room." Ron nodded and stood up.

"Why is he out of bed? He's knows someone's went missing, is he mad? He could be seriously hurt!" Hermione fumed.

"Hermione, calm down." Draco whispered across the table looking her straight in the eyes. She instantly felt soothed.

"So, questions still open. One, where is Snape? Two, How did he get out? Three, who were those three people? It's obvious who he was taken by isn't it?" Pansy said, starting to get into it, it had finally clicked that Professor Snape had been kidnapped and there was no point sitting and moping about it, something needed to be done. Ron shrugged as he sat back down next to her.

"She's gone to get him now." Dumbledore nodded and continued watching his students, he didn't want to lose any of them, and he'd never forgive himself.

Harry nodded agreeing with what Pansy had said a moment ago. "Another question standing though, why does he need me and Hermione to be weak? Whoever stole the potion would know Draco can't be cured till he fell in love with Hermione, well hopefully they don't know it's Hermione…"

"We know what you mean Harry." Blaise said standing up and walking around the table and then sitting on Harry's lap and hugging him, Harry wrapped his arms around Blaise's waist, Hermione took this as her chance to sit back next to Draco.

She went to sit in the chair but he pulled her on his lap, she smiled buried her head into his shoulder.

"Why is it important that me and Harry are weak?" She said into his cloak.

"Isn't it obvious?" Came Draco's voice from beside her. "You are the golden team, you fight evil, it's what you do, if you're likely to start writing all over the walls in an attack on Hogwarts then you can't help defend, especially Potter. If Potter's defenceless the light side might as well surrender right here and now."

"What about me?"

"What about you Weasley?" Draco said darkly, a hint of disgust in his voice, he could adjust to Potter and definitely to Hermione, but he would never like a Weasley.

"Why haven't I got a soul expression then, I'm part of their little hero thing."

"Dunno, it was an accident who got expressions remember."

"Well there taking advantage of what they know." Goyle said still staring at the map.

"And," Said Crabbe. "There's a traitor among us." That got everyone's attention. Dumbledore looked up.

"The only people who know about the expressions are you eight, myself, Professor Snape, and Minerva."

"And Arazona." Draco thought out loud, stroking his fingers over Hermione hands that were held in his own.

"Who?" Ron spat rudely.

"Snape's wife."

"Snape has a wife?"

"He is human you know!" Pansy said elbowing Ron. He mumbled something that sounded strangely like: 'Who would want to marry grease?' This time Blaise elbowed him. Dumbledore stared at Ron over his half moon spectacles and he immediately stopped moaning. "Has anyone told anyone else?" Pansy continued, she looked so tired and mad at everything. Everyone shook their head no.

"Well, there is certainly a traitor at Hogwarts and they are not in this room. You eight have to protect each other, do not fight, you need each other more than ever." They all nodding understanding, they were reluctant but they knew it was true.

"Well, I would say that's enough excitement for tonight, I'm going to give you all a dormitory to stay in together, I don't think anyone with a soul expression is safe right now." Dumbledore skimmed the map with his finger then stopped above a room in a tower in the west wing of Hogwarts on the sixth floor. "Ah, Cronan Tower. I think this dorm here will be sufficient. Passwords on the map, change it when you get there, I don't want to see you until breakfast unless of an emergency. Goodnight children."

"What, is that it?" Harry said shocked. "What do we do about Snape?"

"We will discuss this further in the morning I will arrange to have your things moved to you new tower, I hope you will continue to look for people with soul expressions." Everyone was too tired to argue. Well, or so Dumbledore though. He folded up the map, handed it to Harry and bid them all goodnight.

On the way there everyone agreed to make a truce, after all, Hermione and Draco were already together and Blaise and Harry, it was just Pansy and Ron that needed to made amends with everyone. And thankfully they all agreed.

When they got there it was a huge portrait guarding the tower, it was a cartoon of the Hogwarts badge, the Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravinclaw and Gryffindor animals all lounging in the giant crest. The lion was asleep with the snake on top of its head, the badger was on its back snoozing and in the curve of the Ravinclaw crest, and the Raven was perched on top of the crest. And underneath the it was a baby dragon who was sleeping with fire shooting out of its mouth now and then.

Hermione looked and Draco and smiled. "Can I call you Dragon?"

"What, no?" Draco said looking alarmed.

"Why? That's your name isn't it?" She smirked; he must stop doing that around her.

"Yeah, but…" he protested.

"Please?" Oh… my… god… Hermione Granger was giving him puppy dog eyes, he was turning into goo on the floor she was making his knees so weak, he was sure of it.

"Moving on swiftly before I am sick, what's the password Harry?" Predictably this was Ron.

"Never tickle a sleeping Dragon." Everyone looked strange at Harry as the portrait opened.

"What should we change it too?" Goyle yawned.

"Let's keep it!" Pansy piped up.

"We can't, it's too obvious!" Hermione stated, did they want themselves to get murdered in their sleep?

"How is that obvious?" Ron argued siding with Pansy and not realising it.

"It's the school motto!" Hermione said through gritted teeth, was everyone here challenged when it came to knowing things?

"No, it isn't!" Crabbe was confusing himself.

"Yes it is, doesn't no-one speak Latin?" Hermione asked as if it was the simplest language in the world. "Draco Dormains nunquam titillandus is the school motto and it means never tickle a sleeping dragon."

"I always knew Dumbledore was mad." Pansy said walking into the room.

"He's not mad he's the greatest wi-" Harry started to argue.

"Wizard ever, we know!" Draco finished following Pansy.

"Password people? What about… Slytherdor." Goyle suggested shrugging.

"Now that's cool." Hermione said.

"Okay deal, Granger change it." Pansy yelled from in the room. Everyone walked into the tower as Hermione finished changing it and closed the portrait from behind her.

As Hermione looked around she was surprised, it was a huge room, with beds lining down one wall, a fire place, two desks, two couches and huge tapestries of the houses were on the wall. A huge window was behind the eight beds; that would be annoying in the morning the Slytherins weren't used to light. There was also door on the right wall, obviously a bathroom.

Everyone looked at the trunks at the bottom of the beds finding their own. They all yawned while grabbing pyjamas to get changed into as they cued for the bathroom, Draco complaining about what the morning would be like.

Everyone was in bed half an hour later, but no-one was asleep.

"Erm, guys?" Pansy whispered. "Anyone awake?"

"Yeah." came seven voices. She smiled. She sat up, looking at the figures of everyone. "Hey Blaise, where are you?" The bed next to hers empty.

"He's with me." Harry whispered. Hermione shot up in bed.

"Rule number one, no sex, everyone agree?" There was a sharp round of 'yes!' Hermione laid back down feeling a little better.

"Well if you're in with Harry I'm in with Goyle!" With that Pansy climbed out of bed and got in with her friend.

"Pansy!"

"What!"

"You can't sleep there!"

"Why not? We're friends, friends share beds."

"But…"

"But, what?"

"Oh, I give up."

"I'm with Hermione!" Draco jumped out of bed and ran to her bed.

"I'm having Malfoys bed, it's bigger!" After everyone shifted around everything went quiet for a while until Crabbe climbed out of bed, pushed his against the empty one next to him and then fused them together making a double bed, he then laid down spread out diagonally.

"Hmm, that's nice." Everyone laughed.

Silence.

"So, what should we do about Severus, we can't leave him!" Draco whispered, his breath tickled Hermione neck and she shivered, they were spooned in her bed and she felt so comfortable, she just hoped things weren't going to move too fast. Then she almost smacked herself, of course they wouldn't she realised as she felt his ring, Harry said Blaise had took his off, Draco hadn't.

"What are we supposed to do? We don't know where he is!" Came Harry's voice from somewhere in the dark.

"Of course we do, there's only three places he can be!" Draco argued.

"Why didn't you say earlier?" Hermione felt like slapping him, he shouldn't hold back information!

"Well, I'm gunna go and get him tomorrow I can't leave him there."

"Where?" Pansy hissed. "You're not telling us from where!" Hermione realised what he meant.

"Well, there only are three places he can be: his house, Malfoy Manor-" Draco explained.

"And Riddle Manor." Harry finished, hugging Blaise closer to him.

* * *

"**Love Me or Hate Me**" (produced by Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald) is the sixth single from UK hip-hop artist Lady Sovereign. "**Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)**" is a popular song by "one-hit wonder" Edison Lighthouse. "**Any other World**" is a 2007 hit by Mika.

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	17. I Used to be My Own Protection

The next day bought disaster for the Slytherdors; as they had dubbed themselves late into the night, not getting to sleep until around half past three in the morning. They all woke up in a state of panic at around 6:30 when then sun invaded the room, well that was when Pansy got up and sneaked into the bathroom to use all the hot water, then she woke everyone up with a start when she screamed at the top of her voice.

Pansy backed into the corner of the room and slipped on the water on the bathroom floor, falling back and banging her head on the wall. A look of pure terror etched into her features.

"NO! HELP! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! ARGHHHHHHHH!" Harry, with his hero complex and his soul expression jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom slamming the door open to find Pansy (in all her glory) crying in the corner.

"Pansy, what's…?" Harry spun around as a cold bony hand rested on his shoulder, the room got colder and Harry's breathing increased and memories washed through him.

A high pitched scream echoed in his mind. _'Not, Harry, anything but Harry!' _Harry's body shook silently as he fell forward leaning against the wall in horror, he reached to his pocket instinctively as he tried to find his wand. It was on his bed side cabinet. Distantly he could hear Pansy screaming for help.

"Draco! Draco! JUST Draco come here! Help, its Harry! Draco!" Pansy cried hysterically, trying to crawl further into the corner as Harry dropped to the floor and the dementor closed in on him. Draco ran into the open door, everyone following but soon disappearing as they saw Pansy crying her eyes out on the floor. Blaise stood shocked behind them at the sight of Harry in such a state.

"Please, no kill me instead! MUM!" Blaise ran forward and started shaking him pointedly not looking at the dementor; Harry looked up eyes blood shot, tears pouring down his face. "Happy… memories… Blaise… first kiss…" He fell forward onto Blaise, body going limp as he passed out. Complete terror broke loose.

"HELP HIM DRACO!"

"PARKINSON STOP SCREAMING!"

"HELP PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!"

"WHAT DO I DO?"

"GOYLE MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL!"

"RON GET HOT CHOCOLATE!"

"WHERE FROM!"

"DOBBY!"

"Now everyone calm down…"

"SHUT UP!"

"Harry, WAKE UP!"

"Draco, DO SOMETHING!"

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A silver dragon erupted from Draco's wand but soon vanished into thin air. "Why isn't it working?" He felt someone shove him out of the way and he hit the side of the door. The creature turned its focus on Draco and immediately shifted into his father.

"Draco, I think we need to have a little chat, there's been an accident, quite unfortunate… " Lucius said, walking closer to Draco who backed away. Draco raised his wand warily as his eyes filled with tears. Hermione stared confused at Lucius Malfoy; Draco was scared of his dad? She came back to her senses when Blaise yelled.

"GRANGER! PANSY, SHUT UP!" While, trying to lift Harry the whole time.

She raised her wand immediately. "RIDDIKULUS!" Hermione yelled, instantly Lucius was dressed in a clown suit and then disappeared. Draco fled from the bathroom humiliated and Hermione grabbed a towel from the cupboard that obviously had contained the Boggart. She wrapped it around a shaking Pansy.

"Are you okay?" Hermione whispered. Pansy nodded slowly sniffling and still dripping wet from her shower. She led her slowly into the room again and sat her on the bed. Hermione looked up to see Blaise crying and carrying Harry bridal style out of the bathroom.

Ron came bolting back into the common room followed by Dobby; he too collapsed on the nearest bed, breathing hard.

"Dobby, we need eight hot chocolates and three big bars of chocolate right away."

"Yes, Miss Hermione Granger." Dobby disappeared and reappeared a second later, carrying a large tray of chocolate cakes, bars of chocolate and hot chocolate, bowed and then disappeared. Hermione grabbed a bar of chocolate and opened it snapping it into pieces. She picked up a hot chocolate and a few squares of chocolate and handed them to Pansy. She grabbed the same again and moved from Pansy over to Blaise who was crying holding a still out cold Harry.

"Blaise, move please." She whispered calmly. He shifted a little and let go reluctantly, she handed him the chocolate products and whipped her wand back out pointing it at Harry's chest. "_Ennervate_." Harry gasped, sitting up abruptly.

"Boggart?" He questioned rubbing his eyes, he was still shaking. "Is Pansy okay?" he leaned onto Blaise who instantly started fussing over him and shoving the chocolate into his mouth.

"Pansy's fine."

"And Draco, didn't Draco get hurt?" Hermione's eyes widened, he'd ran out the bathroom. She stood up alarm and sighed relieved to see him sitting in a chair in front of the fire. She walked back over to the last two cups, grabbed a plate of cake, some chocolate and held them walking as steadily as possible over to Draco. She gingerly walked to the side of him, listening to him singing softly under his breath. She put the food on the floor concerned.

"_My insides are turned to ash, so slow, and blew away as I collapsed, so cold, the black wind took them away from sight, and now the darkness over day, that night. And the clouds above move closer looking so dissatisfied, but the heartless wind kept blowing, blowing. I used to be my own protection, but not now. Because my path has lost direction, somehow. The black wind took you away from…"_

"Draco, snap out of it." Hermione said as she sat on the arm of the chair, passing him the drink, but he just stared numbly in front of him.

" …_And night, and the clouds above move closer looking so dissatisfied, and the ground below grew colder as they put you down inside, but the heartless wind kept blowing, blowing_,"

"I bought you some cake,"

"_My mind has lost…"_

"Draco!" SMACK! Draco snapped out of his daze and looked startled at Hermione crouched down in front of him and he realised he was holding a hot drink and Hermione was waving a plate of chocolate cake in his face.

"I'm sorry." He muttered.

"It's fine, now eat up. It's chocolate, our favourite see?"

Silence…

"I think I love you, you're so nice."

"Don't say what you don't mean Draco."

"But I want to love you."

"I know, now eat up."

"But I haven't even brushed my…"

"EAT!" Draco grabbed the cake and took a bite, the colour starting to run back into his cheeks. Hermione stayed sat at his feet drinking her chocolate, keeping an eye on the others.

Crabbe and Goyle had took the liberty of making sure Blaise, Pansy and Harry ate the left over cake, and Crabbe was currently wrestling Pansy (still clad in a towel) trying to ram some into her mouth, she was yelling something about calories. Hermione smiled, everyone was getting on so well and it was great. Hogwarts was really starting to unite, kind of… If she was told this would have happened last year she would really think the person was mad or she was mad in the future. Which she wasn't… at least she thought she wasn't. Hermione's stream of thought was broken when Draco pushed her forward a little, holding on to her shoulders. "What are you…?"

"_I think I'm in love, _

_with his sweet but bitter touch, _

_I'm driven by the passion, _

_and his slick but stuck up fashion. _

_A look sends a shiver; _

_a smirk makes me swoon,_

_And I love the way he feels, _

_and he__how he __understands my needs…"_

"Draco! Stop reading my expression!" Hermione had realised she must have wrote on her back last night, how she managed to do that she didn't know but she could practically hear the smirk.

"_His sophistication drives me crazy _

_and it's all because of him, _

_I find myself tossing and turning at night, _

_how can something so wrong, _

_feel so right?" _

Draco smiled as the poem ended there, what he didn't know was it continued on her stomach. "Aww… Granger, I didn't know you felt that way!" Hermione blushed.

"Yes well, I'm very smitten, okay?" Draco smiled at her honestly and pulled her up and then into his lap hugging her.

"It was my sister." He whispered into her ear, holding her tighter, her arms hugging his.

"What was?"

"Who I was singing about. I'm not scared of my dad, Hermione, I'm scared of a conversation we had. When she died, when he told me, I'm just upset about the funeral I think and the Boggart dragged up memories, I wanted to forget."

"I'm sorry, I didn't even realise."

"It was very recently, don't worry, not many people of the public have noticed to be honest, she enjoyed a peaceful life, and was ill for a very long time and we wanted her to have a peaceful death."

"Oh."

"Thank you." Hermione turned around looking questioningly at him. "For listening." He elaborated.

"Anytime, now chop chop! Breakfast in a minute! I want you all to eat something apart from chocolate! Everyone check there homework and get dressed, we're leaving in half an hour!" Hermione said springing up out of her chair and grabbing her school clothes, she walked into the bathroom mumbling about McGonagall, checking over assignments and a something to do with Runes.

"Is she like this every morning?" Crabbe asked looking horrified at the prospect of it all.

"No, she's much, much worse…"

* * *

Upon arriving at breakfast they all separated onto their respectable tables. Seamus, Dean and Neville whispering as they arrived.

"Where were you last night, Dumbledore keep you up all night did he?" He asked sarcastically.

"We're not really allowed to talk about it, Seamus." Hermione replied without looking up from serving eggs onto Harry's plate from the fresh trays that had just appeared. He was still a little pale. "Discussion over."

Seamus gave her a dirty look and took a bite out of his egg and Ron looked alarmed as Seamus screwed his face up and started coughing, only a second later to stand up and pull his wand out pointing it straight into Hermione face.

Draco who had been watching from across the room stood up, sneer in place and ready to go Gryffindor bashing. That was until Pansy started talking on and on trying to get his attention while pulling on his robe, and until a fire broke out at the end of his table, several Hufflepuff's burst into song. A first year started tap dancing, Ravinclaws all started reciting out loud from there text books, and about four fights broke out abruptly.

Dumbledore stood up alarmed as a food fight started to break out between all of the students. "Stop eating, don't drink! It's poisoned!" He hissed at the staff and they all dropped their cutlery and spat there food out. "STOP! SILENCE! ALL THAT ARE NOT AFFECTED! STOP EATING IMMEDIATELY AND DON'T DRINK!" The effected students didn't stop, everything continued and the fire was spreading rapidly up a tapestry. Dumbledore stared wide eyed as he realised what was happening. The rest of his students had just been fed a Soul Expression. And he didn't have the cure.

* * *

"Valentine's Day" is a song by Linkin Park.

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	18. A plan?

The next week went by with mixed emotions. By the day the Slytherdors looked happy, discussed marriage, politics and anything else they disagreed on, (and of course helped Dumbledore and the Professors round up all the people who were trying to kill themselves, or were so happy it was blinding to look at them). And by the nights? The nights were spend looking for the book Snape got the cure for the expressions from, monitoring the hallways for activity and conspiring to break out the school and rescue their Potions Master.

The Marauders Map had been unfolded and stuck to the wall, permanently activated causing Harry to sit in front of it for hours to make sure no-one was out of bed or more importantly if anyone else came back into the castle. But they weren't having much luck. And Draco was spiraling down into a depression that even Hermione could not help. But magic could, so he was being pumped with cheering charms every few hours.

Currently the eight of them were sprawled around several parts of Cronan Tower. It had just turned 11pm and none of them were yawning yet due to the energy potions that Hermione had made them; they were of course completely legal, because everything Hermione Granger did was good, right? So she hadn't got the potion from the restricted section. Of course not! And when she had told them this, Draco had so not choked on it at the shock of what his girlfriend had done because Malfoy's don't choke, (Of course).

Hermione and Blaise were sat in front of the fire reading from huge potion manuals searching for any trace of the cure for the students. Goyle, Ron and Crabbe, (who were getting on surprisingly well) were on their beds eating sandwiches and also researching but Hermione suspected they were just turning the page very now and then.

Unfortunately Pansy wasn't much use for anything because much to the dismay of her room mates they had found out Pansy's expression was talking. And once she started she never stopped, giving her something to do would be chaotic and last time Hermione put a silencing charm on her she had really regretted it as Pansy had seeked revenge by telling Professor Trelawney that Hermione was interested in palm reading. So Pansy was pampering herself in the bathroom.

Harry and Draco, like most nights, were found in front of the desk in the corner, where they were trying to make blue prints of Malfoy Manor, Snape Manor and Riddle Manor from memory; and as you guessed were failing miserably. Both of their eyes were constantly flickering at the Marauders Map that was pinned on the wall close by them.

Draco stared and stared at the map and didn't even realise that Harry was talking to him until he clicked his fingers in front of his face; he lightly jumped and turned his grey eyes to Harry's green ones.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I was just saying, do you think we should just owl his wife?" Harry was obviously referring to Arazona.

"I told you, if it goes to the Manor and there's deatheaters there, we won't get it back and they will know were desperate for the cure."

"But what if we…" Here Harry dropped his voice and glanced over his shoulders looking at his friends. He returned his gaze to the paper in front of them, Draco did the same, both of them picking up there quills pretending to be engrossed in their blue prints. "Why don't me and you Floo there and check, only for a second it won't hurt, he might not even be there."

"Are you suggesting we go without them to Snape Manor?" He replied in an equally hushed tone. Draco was genuinely shocked, but he didn't disagree at all. After all, the Snape family was very close to him and he wasn't sure if Arazona even knew her husband had gone missing or not. And if she was sat at home on her own with only little Jacob she was in danger, and even though Amelia and Robert were at school they would not be safe, it was nowhere as near as secure as Hogwarts and there had easily been a breach of security.

"Kind of… Just to check if the book is there and to see if Snape's wife is alright. Or if Snape's there; just a quick in and out. No-one will even know we're gone."

"Unless the place is overrun with deatheaters then we'll be in the middle of no-where with no-one to hear our screams."

"Do you have to be so morbid?"

"I think the spells wearing off."

"Well, before we go to Snape's you'll have to ask Hermione to renew it, I don't want you giving away our position by singing a funeral march." Normally Draco would have laughed but he just wasn't himself at the moment. This potion was making everything unbearable for him.

"Suppose so." Draco stared at the marauders map again, looking at all the details. He leaned his chin onto his hands after he dropped his quill.

"So you'll do it then?"

"Of course." Even though Hermione would kill him it was totally worth it, Snape was like his second father. Or well, the father figure he never had. Lucius had been good at buying gifts and keeping Draco popular and entertained. But when it came to the really important things, like even birthdays sometimes, his dad couldn't be there because of Voldemort or some business trip or over time at the ministry. Why did he even do over time? It wasn't as if they were poor, they were exactly the opposite! Draco just knew he stayed to snoop around and mess everything up. Try get into the Unspeakable's heads. Why did his dad have to be a deatheater? It just ruined everything, and it was probably what was sending the school into chaos at the moment; Draco really wouldn't be surprised if his father was behind all of this. And if he was, then he had betrayed a friend. Would Lucius really hurt Severus? Someone he had known for so long? He honestly didn't know.

Although, he knew that was pretty horrible to think of his father, he did care, he just forgot to show it sometimes. But he did show it in other ways, it was just the wrong ways sometimes.

"If only we had a safer way to get in though…" Harry drummed his fingers on the desk deep in thought.

"That would help." Draco and Harry jumped. Hermione didn't look up from her book. "Even whispering in here is too loud, we were silent." Harry and Draco blushed. "So unless you two come up with a safer plan that floo in and floo out, then you're not going on your own." Draco almost sulked.

"So much for secret." Harry muttered under his breath. "So," Here he spoke at normal volume again. "We need to get into Snape Manor, or whatever it's called, but we need to know if it's safe. If we could only find a way of checking if it was safe first…"

"That's basically impossible Harry."

"Oh but Blaise, nothing is impossible."

"But that is."

"No, it isn't."

"Oh, yes it is!"

"Oh my god, there at it again." Over the past week everyone had learned that squabbling and childish bickering was completely normal for Blaise and Harry.

"Hey, Potter?" Draco interrupted them; he had suddenly had a brain wave, how? He didn't know because the idea he just came up with had nothing to do with what he was thinking.

"Hmm?" He turned back around in his chair and picked up the quill again. Blaise tutted and went back to reading.

"How was this map made?" Draco turned to Harry, eyes literally sparkling with excitement. Harry's head shot straight up from the blue prints and a huge smile broke out on his face.

"That's it! You're a genius, you're an absolute genius!" Draco and Harry then started to squeal like school girls in excitement. Blaise and Hermione looked over from the couch.

"Possibly delirious?" Blaise questioned looking to Hermione.

"I believe so Blaise…" They both started reading again. Harry and Draco ran up to them beside themselves with joy, Harry was actually bouncing on the balls of his feet. Which was really surprising seems he hadn't slept in 2 days.

"Hey, Hermione?" Draco said flashing her a dazzling smile, which was also very surprising because his cheering charm was wearing off. Draco kissed her nose before sitting next to her and taking her book off her and throwing it across the room.

"Hey, I was reading that Draco!"

"Do you know how the Marauders Map was made?"

"Don't be silly why would you want to kn… oh my god. You're a genius. You're a complete genius!" Hermione then grabbed Draco and kissed him passionately giving Harry and Blaise a close up which was kind of scarring.

"Oi, you two get a room!" Ron said as he came over with Crabbe and Goyle to see what all the commotion was about.

"We're in it." Draco said before leaning in to kiss Hermione again but she jumped up and pushed him out the way.

"No time for this, loads of work to do." Hermione ran over to the map above the desk and stared pursing her lips in thought leaving Draco looking crestfallen at the spot on the sofa where Hermione had just been.

"Does anyone want to explain what's going on?" Goyle said frustrated. "You always leave me out just because I'm not as smart as you."

"Goyle, if we left you out, then you wouldn't be here right now!"

Silence.

"Oh yeah, Draco you're so smart." Draco wanted to bang his head, but instead wondered to himself what he had done in his life to deserve all the crap that was going on at the moment. Actually, no-one answer that.

"Someone write this down! Listen," Draco scrambled for the ink and parchment on the table. "We'll need some huge parchment, a tracking spell, a monitoring spell, some Veritaserum, some permanent ink, the standard book of spells grade 7, an identity potion and a spell which could update something, I don't know of one but it must exist."

"The monitoring spell will do that." Hermione nodded turning around. Ron still looked confused. "Someone explain to him, I'm going to get that parchment, Vector will have some. Be right back." Hermione just reached the portrait before she heard, "You haven't got the cloak!" That might come in handy. She turned to get it only to find it hit her in the face. She pulled in on then finally walked out.

"So what's going on then?"

"We're making a map; one like the Marauders Map, but except it's for Snape's house so we can see what's going on in there. Who's in there and stuff."

"Harry are you mental, it took your dad and them years to do Hogwarts."

"That's because Hogwarts is a castle Ron, Snape's house won't even be the size of the great hall." Harry argued back starting to yawn slightly, he leaned his head onto Blaise's chest and the other boy wrapped his arms around him. Draco suddenly felt really cold without his lady snuggling up to him.

"Of course it will, all these snobby ones have huge houses, I mean look at Malfoy, and I bet he has a whole floor to himself." Ron leaned back in the arm chair, yawning as well.

"Close Weasley, I've got the west wing, and no you're wrong, Snape's house is only three stories and is actually fairly small." Draco stifled a yawn.

"Erm guys? When did we last sleep?"

"'Bout 2 days ago. Potion should be wearing off." Goyle yawned. Crabbe had fallen asleep already.

"Hmm…" Blaise agreed. The heat in the room was making their situation worse, it was too comforting. Blaise snapped his eyes open. "Where's Pansy?"

"Erm… Bath…" Draco mumbled before falling to sleep.

"BATH! SHE'LL DROWN! PANSY!" Everyone jumped up as Blaise ran into the bathroom while Ron mumbled something to do with being sorry he ate all the pumpkin pies.

* * *

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge . This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	19. The Map, Part 1

After Blaise had successfully awoken Pansy from slumber and saved her from her unforeseen death, he walked back into the tower to find everyone fast asleep; apart from Draco who seemed to be having a fight with his eyelids.

"Wake up Draco, don't leave me on my own." Blaise moaned as he slapped the side of Draco's face lightly, the boy still having an internal battle to keep his eyes open.

"Fuck off, you arse bandit!" Blaise gasped at Draco's rude and offensive manor and glanced over to where Harry was sleeping to see if he had heard it, he hadn't; so he just shrugged it off remembering his cheering charm was off. He could be offended and hurt later.

"We need to wait up for Hermione." Blaise shook Draco slightly by the shoulders.

"I'm up, I'm up." Draco mumbled before going back to sleep on the chair. Blaise rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips taking in the scene in front of him. Everyone was fast asleep and he was sure they wouldn't wake up unless they had energy potions. But he had no idea where Hermione kept them and he'd need a cheering charm for Draco as well. Which he didn't have a clue how to do. So first thing coming first, he decided to look for the potions; he went to look in the bathroom only to find Pansy in the bath asleep again.

"PANSY! I told you to get out!" Blaise yelled, causing the girl to gasp in freight and slip under the water. Blaise rushed to the edge of the tub and grabbed her arm wrenching her out of the water, Pansy coughed and spluttered water all over Blaise's shirt and started to cry on his shoulder clinging onto him, yelling very melodramatically.

"Oh, Blaise, I almost died and then I'd be gone forever, I would have felt every last little breath seeping from my body! Oh my god, my poor mother, she'd be left all on her own, with no-one! And you guys would never see me again. And I'd be in an internal sleep, I hate sleeping you know my dreams aren't always that pleasant." Pansy spoke with each word going into each other and so fast it seemed like she was saying one extremely long word. Blaise let her go and she fell back into the water. He smirked as he watched her hair rise to the top.

"Bloody expressions!" Blaise muttered flicking the water from his hands and standing up. Pansy's head broke back through the surface coughing again and he raised an eyebrow at her folding his arms.

"Going to be quiet now?"

"Murderer! Killer! You could have drown me, I'd be dead forever!" Pansy went on and on talking to no-one in particular before Blaise grabbed both of her arms and pulled her out.

"No, you'd be dead for a day." Blaise muttered angrily.

"Pervert! Rapist! Paedophile!" Pansy screeched grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her naked form.

"PANSY! I'M GAY!" Blaise yelled at the girl but it seemed nothing would shut her up. Blaise picked her up and threw her over his shoulder carrying her out the bathroom with her shouting about being kidnapped and banging her fists against his back; and him muttering about her paranoia. He marched over to her bed, opened the covers then dropped her there pulling the quilt over her. She instantly fell asleep and put her thumb into her mouth. A small grin formed at the corner of Blaise's mouth. This might come in handy later.

But right now he needed a potion otherwise he would fall asleep and that wouldn't be very useful. So he walked back into the bathroom pointedly ignoring the space beside Harry where he belonged. He opened a cupboard that was under the sink only to find there was one potion. He picked it up and it slipped straight through his wet fingers and shattered on the floor. Blaise stared at the floor a smile twitching on his face and then he burst into laughter at the situation he was in, just before he passed out from exhaustion onto the floor, not even wincing when the glass from the vile pierced into his cheek. He would be in a large amount of pain when we woke up.

* * *

Hermione was quick to grab the A2 parchment from Professor Vector's stores; after all if she got caught stealing with her prefect badge it would surely be taken off her. She knew the potions were wearing thin in their blood she needed to get back to the tower as soon as possible, she felt completely drained. She was supposed to make a new batch yesterday but had completely forgotten as she had been bombarded with homework and was still looking for the antidote for the students who had drank; well rather eaten, the soul expression potion. Without Professor Snape's help it was hopeless. They had broke into his office several times in the last few days searching through his notes and documents to see if he had recorded anything, but nothing was found to do with an expression. It was as if he'd never been researching it. There was just no trace.

She stifled a yawn as she shut the door to the office and was just throwing the cloak onto herself when she heard someone talking in a stern tone. She froze as she recognised Professor McGonagall's voice; she was going to be caught. An invisibility cloak wouldn't fool her. But then what she heard next sent a shiver of fear through her body.

"…What are you doing? I thought you were…" Her panicked voice was cut off as it was undeniable someone had covered her mouth, a spell was whispered and Hermione strained her ears to hear it, a thump was heard as her Professors body dropped to the floor, she held her breath creeping closer to the corner where the commotion was going on.

She poked her head around the corner to see what was happening, all she saw was a black cloaked figure and a massive book tucked under their arm safely, as she did this she realised she had been stupid, she was without her wand and as a red flash hit her in her face she realised she should have run, she's been far too loud.

Meanwhile back in the tower, Crookshanks jumped onto the desk in the corner, scattering the forgotten blue prints everywhere. He looked up at the Marauders Map and mewed scratching his paw along the parchment as the dot named 'Hermione Granger' slowly blinked itself out.

* * *

Pansy was the first to wake up as usual as the sunlight was annoying at this time in the morning; it must have been around 7 o'clock when her eyes fluttered open. She was still exhausted but was awake enough to realise that she wasn't supposed to be asleep in the first place. She sat up wondering how she had got into bed and why she was only in a towel, and then she remembered Blaise and moved her from the bathroom.

She sat up groggily rubbing her eyes and groaned as she looked at her hair, it was frizzy and a complete mess, she was going to kill him when she saw him next. She tip toed over to her dresser and took out a clean uniform: a skirt, her blouse, a jumper and a clean cloak. She snatched her cosmetics bag from on top of the dresser, and rummaged through her underwear draw pulling out a white t-shirt bra, she looked at it questionly and put the stuff in her hands on the dressers top, she peered down at the little label on the back.

"Victoria's Secret, 34 C…" Pansy muttered thinking then held the brassiere out in front of her. "HEY GRANGER! Is this yours? I mean because it's not mine, I'm not a 34 C, I'm a 32 D, this couldn't be mine, and I don't own white underwear. Mine are pink and black, because there my favourite colours you know. And Victoria's Secret? I never would have guessed Hermione, bet your hot stuff on the quiet, it's always the innocent ones."

"Oi, Pansy, shut the fuck up!" Goyle grumbled and grabbed a pillow shoving it onto Ron's head to lean on, Ron moved out the way waking up and giving Goyle a confused look.

"Yeah Pans, as much as I love you, don't advertise my girlfriends underwear. I might be forced to decapitate your face, love." Draco muttered standing up and stretching, "She'll kill you when she hears you by the way, I won't need to actually, saves me the trouble." He yawned loudly and cringed when he saw he was still in his uniform.

"You, Malfoy, need a cheering charm." He turned to the voice which belonged to Harry. He nodded, that much was true. He watched as Harry patted the empty space in front of him looking for Blaise's body and then sat up on the sofa confused at why he was alone.

"Where's Blaise?" He said loudly, his glasses had snapped at the corner sometime in the night, he pulled them off and rubbed his eyes as he yawned, he needed another potion. He stood up and scanned the room, everything was blurred but he was positive he couldn't see the light brown shade of Blaise's hair or his petite form curled up anywhere. "Where's Blaise?" He repeated, voice clearer and louder.

"Dunno, where's Hermione? I've got her bra."

"Oh nice, Pansy." Ron said cringing.

"Problem with that Weasley, believe it or not Hermione is female. Not like you'd notice a beautiful woman if you saw one."

"Don't start, ferret."

"It's been five minutes without Blaise and Hermione and world war 3 is developing." Harry muttered walking into the bathroom just about to unzip his pants when he saw Blaise sprawled out on the floor. He instantly dropped to the floor and pulled Blaise's head into his lap as he turned him over. Harry held him close rocking back and forth trying to stop his tears.

"Someone get my wand!" he shouted out the room, Draco was the only one who walked to the door, he causally chucked the wand to Harry which hit him square in the face, that was until he noticed Blaise with glass lodged into face.

"What happened?" he gasped, walking into the room cautiously and wincing as Harry pulled the shards out of his face and then healed them.

"I have no idea." Harry's voice was shaky but his hand was steady as he healed his face. I just found him like this; I think he's just asleep. I'm barely awake myself."

"Same." Draco agreed he wasn't really sure what to do. He felt like he was intruding. "Have you seen Hermione this morning?" He asked tearing his gaze away from Blaise. Harry shook his head "no". Draco wasn't going to push him, he was strangely calm seems his boyfriends who's face seemed to have been ravished by a vile. Draco stood up and emptied the bath noticing it was still full, he had never emptied anyone else's water but it really didn't bother him at this time. He had other things on his mind, other people. He walked out the room leaving Harry and Blaise to have some time together, he was sure Blaise had woke up while he was emptying the bath.

He pulled his shirt over his head as he walked over to his bed. "Has anyone seen Hermione?"

"No."

"Well, she didn't come back last night, I'm sure of that." Draco said not bothering to cover the worry in his tone. "She would have slept by me; I didn't feel her all night." He grabbed his deodorant and sprayed as he had grabbed his wand and spelled his clothes on. He reached onto Goyle's bed and grabbed the Slytherin tie before stalking across the room and opening the door.

"Where you going, Malfoy?" Ron said from the couch where he was still half asleep.

"To find her." Draco didn't look up from where he was knotting his tie perfectly.

"Why don't you check the-" Draco slammed the portrait closed; he couldn't be bothered to listen to Weasley's ramblings. "…Map." Ron finished pathetically.

A while later everyone was dressed ready to start the day, it had been weird without Hermione flustering about the place chattering on about checking homework and lecturing people about their messy uniforms. But still, they had all managed without but she had certainly not been forgotten.

"I just don't understand where she could have gone." Harry said staring at the map. "I just can't find her anywhere."

"Don't be stupid Harry. Of course she's here."

"Blaise, I really think she isn't." Harry said looking across the map.

"Harry, that's impossible!" Blaise had joined Harry and soon everyone was gathered around the map looking for Hermione.

"She's not there!" Harry panicked.

"How are we going to tell Draco?" Pansy questioned in a small voice, for once she was speechless. But they didn't need to tell him because at that moment he burst into the tower.

"I found this." Draco said holding up a piece of parchment.

"Yes, it's parchment Draco." Everyone stared at him confused or as if he had officially gone mad, which he hadn't, yet.

"It's A2 parchment." More looks. "HERMIONE WAS LOOKING FOR BIG PARCHMENT! It was on the floor outside Vectors classroom she must have dropped it." Everyone ducked as he came towards them his wand raised. But he merely pressed it to the map.

"Mischief managed." Harry looked at him confused, again. "Watch, I realised something. I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." The lines reappeared and everyone gathered around again.

'_Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs Proudly present: The Marauders Map__'_

'_Mr Moony would like to inform you of more strange happenings.__'_

'_Most unfortunate things indeed, Mr Prongs would like to say, we were rather attached to them.__'_

'_Mr Padfoot would like to break it gently that: __'__MINERVA GABRIEL MCGONAGALL, TRANSFIGURATION PROFESSOR AND DEPUTY HEAD MISTRESS OF HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY, ORDER OF MERLIN 2__nd__ CLASS__'__ and __'__HERMIONE JANE GRANGER, STUDENT AND PREFECT OF HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY__'__ disappeared on the 4__th__ floor late last night also __'__SEVERUS ACAYON SNAPE__'__ appeared back into the school a few minutes before they disappeared.__'_

The map appeared again and they all exchanged looks of… grief. Everyone looked unsurely at Draco who suddenly dropped down onto his knees and burst into tears. Everyone looked shocked apart from Blaise who instantly went into brother mode.

"I'm losing everyone!" Draco cried, Blaise hugged him rubbing his back, the others loomed into the back ground extremely awkward. "First Severus, now Hermione." Draco continued to pour his heart out into Blaise's shoulder.

Meanwhile Harry's train of thought was very different. "We need to think clearly about this, if we panic everything will go wrong, we need to go through with this plan." Harry stood in front of the map again.

"We can't do this without Hermione; we don't have a clue what we're doing." Draco sobbed. "I'm lost, I can't breath… oh my god, the room's getting smaller… I can't breath!"

"You're not going to be breathing when I ram this parchment down your throat! Get a grip Draco! We're going to get her, and we're getting Snape too." Harry turned from the map and looked determined at everyone. "Everyone agree?"

They all nodded. "But first," Harry continued. "We're going to breakfast."

* * *

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge . This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	20. The Map, Part 2

The first thing they did was report Hermione's disappearance to Dumbledore after breakfast and he'd asked if they knew anything about the Professor, of course they did and they confirmed his suspicions. He reassured them the Ministry of Magic would be informed and a letter would be sent to her parents. They didn't argue when they was told the Aurors would find her. Because they knew that it was just like the way they had been so successful in finding Snape; they hadn't, period. Dumbledore ushered them out of his office and sent them to lessons. Everything fell back into routine until dinner that night when new rules were laid down. No student was to be out of bed after dinner and never to venture ANYWHERE on their own.

That night they did start the plan as Harry promised and they started brewing all the necessary potions. Draco had managed to find the book with the energy potions in, they all agreed they were top priority as they had all fell asleep in care for magical creatures and almost had their hair burned by some unknown creature they hadn't even realised was in front of them. The energy potion was finished by one clock that morning and they all agreed to take them in the morning. That was not the only thing completed either, some of the spells were found and Blaise had mastered a cheering charm which he'd been practising on Pansy. They all regretted this when Pansy was so happy she decided she was a Queen… of lollies, it all happened something like this:

Pansy had been slacking off taking advantage of the fact they wouldn't let her work, she was sat in the bed reading a beauty magazine and eating a strawberry lolly when Blaise asked her if he could practise a cheering charm on her. She agreed thinking there would do no harm.

It wasn't even half an hour later that Pansy jumped off the bed, eyes wide and a huge smile on her face and ran towards Harry who was cutting up wasp stings on the desk and started licking his face, of course he feared her sanity and her life because of the way Blaise was looking at her.

"Um, Pansy, what are you doing?" Harry asked trying to look at her, but it was obviously hard seems she was connected to his face.

"Umm... lolly pop!" Pansy drooled on him and Harry cringed.

"Parkinson, off my man! He's gay! And he's mine you can't have him!" Blaise fumed pulling her off Harry.

"Actually I'm bisexual." Harry said while wiping spit off his face.

"Yeah, whatever, WHAT THE FUCK!" Pansy had now leeched herself to Blaise's face and was licking his cheek instead of Harry's. Draco walked into the room and stopped in shock at the sight before him. He'd just been down to Snape's office again, he hadn't found anything. But back to the point, he'd left them alone for half an hour and this is what happens? They were like children, honestly.

"Ummmmm... strawberry lolly pop." Pansy cooed and hugged Blaise who looked slightly green. Well wouldn't you be if this was happening to you?

"Okay, Pansy, in this difficult stage of your life I would like you tell you I am there for 100 percent." Draco stated, pulling her away from Blaise.

"Whatever that girl is on I want some." Ron laughed, trying to pull her off Draco who was being crushed by her hugs.

"I'm just so happy, I'm flying! I can fly!" Pansy declared making aeroplane noises and pretending to fly around the room. Everyone stood shocked.

"Well it isn't as bad as the time Goyle thought he was a fire engine." Draco stated Harry and Ron gave him weird looks. Goyle shrugged.

"Well, I was only 8!" He argued then tried to grab Pansy as she ran out of the still open portrait and down the corridor. They could hear her yelling as she ran up and down.

"MWAHAHHA! I AM THE QUEEN OF ALL THINGS THAT ARE MADE OF SUGAR AND ARE SWEET AND I WILL RULE OVER ALL THE LOLLIES IN THE WORLD!" Pansy yelled.

"She's gunna get caught!" Harry went to run outside but then realised he was only wearing pyjama's, everyone turned to Draco who sighed and walked out of the portrait. He returned an hour later carrying a sleeping Pansy and covered in flour, with twigs in his hair and his skin tinted blue. Everyone was curious to what had happened but it was too horrific to repeat.

Blaise had learned the lesson never to put cheering charms on already happy people and they had all came to an agreement Pansy was definitely to NEVER help them with anything. Ever.

So now 2 hours later, 5 cauldrons were lined up over the fire place in the tower, all 6 of them working on a certain potion. Pansy of course was still sound asleep

and Draco had actually forgotten he was blue.

They had all managed to drag themselves through the school day, Draco putting on a mask hiding everything he felt, on the outside he was cool and composed and in a horrible mood, but inside he was broken, scared, worried and had never felt more alone. People had literally fled from taking one look at him in the corridors and he'd made at least a few people cry but he didn't really care, he just wanted to find Hermione.

It wasn't until around 3 am when they decided they should go to bed. They actually tired so Harry suggested they write a letter to Remus to explain about the expression. They had forgotten Remus had helped make the Marauders Map, who better to ask how to make one than the creator of the original? He was sure they weren't that far off with the map, well he was hoping. He also decided to ask if the order had any leads on Snape or Hermione, if they did it might calm Draco a bit. They sent the letter with Falcon, Draco's owl; because he was a much faster flyer than Hedwig and they needed a faster response.

Draco stood at the window watching his owl disappear into the night and Harry felt so bad for him, he just wanted to give Draco a big hug, but he'd probably get battered and left twitching on the floor; so he decided against it. Leaving Draco with his thoughts, everyone got into bed and tried to sleep.

That night when Draco slept alone he truly realised the full extent of how much Hermione meant to him. The girl that used to mean nothing was now everything to him. It was weird but it was beautiful. She was so different to all the other girls and so unique; he loved everything about her and at once knew he was finally starting to fall in love with her. Why did he have to realise this when she had been kidnapped and she wasn't here to share it? He probably would have sung some soppy song to her, she would have loved it like always. Every time he closed his eyes he just thought of the times they had spent together, even when he didn't know it was her. He turned onto his back pulling the covers over his head as he knew he was just about to sing.

"_I__'__ll be there for you my love, I will stand by your side, the world has forsaken my girl. Should have known it would be this way, should have known what he was up to , when you love and you lose someone close to you, you know what it feels like to lose. She__'__s fading away, away from this world, she__'__s drifting like a feather, she__'__s not like the other girls, she lives in the clouds and talks to the birds, hopelessly the one, and she__'__s not like the other girls I know__…"_ Draco cried himself to sleep and respectively everyone pretended they were asleep long before any of his emotions escaped.

Harry and Blaise held tighter into each other that night, desperate not to experience what Draco was going through at the moment. Everyone's heart went out to him that first painful night.

HG_DM_HG_DM_HG_DM_HG

It was in transfiguration the next day that the group actually remembered that Professor McGonagall was missing, they had completely forgotten about her. They were sat doodling and talking together. Harry and Ron were sat beside each other, only a gap separating Draco and the others from them; they were still obviously sitting in Slytherin and Gryffindor houses.

Draco listened to them talking in fascination, he had never thought the two were so passionate about it all, they had come to the conclusion Voldemort was behind this. Which, obviously, he was. He was trying to forget about it though. He was being ripped apart with worry for Hermione. So much had happened in this last month, before this had happened he couldn't give a rats arse about some noseless little cretin. They had his murder all planned out and it was obvious they had for a long time and were waiting, they had ignorance to think they could actually do it. That was just… suicide. If 16 years olds could kill him then he would have been dead long ago. They should definitely write up a will. Maybe he should recommend them to Phillip Richardson, he was brilliant at wills. His was already set up. He had recommended that his friends see him too but they just called him morbid. He wasn't morbid. He was sensible. He wasn't going to wait around and get himself killed leaving his mother nothing or any future partners. He wasn't going to wait for the war to die out. And he certainly wasn't going to wait for Potter to kill that 'thing'. He would save himself. It was then he realised he hadn't had a cheering charm cast this morning and was being morbid at the moment.

"Oh, bugger." Draco said, as he felt his vocal cords tremble and his stomach swirl. Blaise turned his friend and just smiled thinking to himself. 'What's it going to be this time?'

_"A world full of killing and blood spilling that will never change," _Draco sang loudly as he jumped onto his chair, the class turned and stared waiting to laugh at his latest outburst. "_And they say that a hero can save us, I__'__m not gunna stand here and wait,_" Draco said jumping off his chair and walking over to the Gryffindor side of the classroom looking straight into Harry's eyes. _"I'll hold onto the wings of the eagles, and watch as they all fly away."_ Harry looked dumb founded that Draco was singing at him and stole at look at Blaise who was in hysterics at the look on his face.

Lavender, who was sat next to Ron, hummed along under her breath doodling and writing random lines of words on a piece of parchment he turned looking shocked at her. He had been so sure that if she had an expression it would have been some crazy Trelawney loving crap.

"_And they're watching us,"_ Draco sang to her.

"_Watching us."_ She replied.

_"They're watching us, as we all fly away_."

"MR MALFOY, please return to your respective side of the room." Professor Flitwick yelled as he walked into the classroom to cover the lesson. Everyone was staring at Lavender and Draco so obviously there was some sort of confrontation going on.

"Come on, Draco... "Pansy tugged his arm and stared at lavender with an expression the other girl really didn't want to decipher, Draco looked disgusted as he was dragged away from her. He had just sung at Lavender!

There hadn't been any giggles at this display. It had left everyone thinking about the words Draco had sung and Lavender seemed to understand. This left Draco feeling sick, very sick, and fearing the safety of his first born. He sighed; Hermione had found that hilarious when he had told her he hated Lavender. God, he just couldn't get that girl out if his head.

"Not like the other Girls" is by The Rasmus, from their Album Dead Letters. "**Hero**" is a single by Chad Kroeger, the lead singer of Nickelback, recorded in 2002 for the soundtrack to the film _Spider-Man__. _It is generally credited in full to "Chad Kroeger featuring Josey Scott."


	21. The Map, Part 3

As the night fell again, 3 of the Slytherdors were not in the tower, but in the room of requirement. Crabbe had a brainwave that caused Pansy to kiss him rather passionately, then she realised it was Crabbe and retreated to the bathroom again. Crabbe, Draco and Ron were in a huge room full of shelf-upon-shelf of books that had been hidden around Hogwarts. They figured it would be the best place to find a book on soul expressions and Snape did say something about this room once, Draco was sure of it.

So there they were, the 3 of them, scanning the book shelves and grabbing anything that might contain the antidote, if they made it, everyone could be healed but Draco; that would certainly make life simpler. Draco's singing was not as bad as Pansy's constant talking and Harry's obsessive caring. Draco had almost sat on a quill a few hours ago only to have Harry dive across the room and push him onto the floor to save his bottom. He had thanked him politely as possible through gritted teeth. So Draco was desperate to get rid of it because to put it simply, Harry was annoying him to hell. He'd been obsessing over Draco's hair gel telling him it would thin his hair, making sure they all ate breakfast and he had taken over Hermione's morning rounds of uniform and homework checks. It seemed everyone was getting worse.

Pansy had been doing really outrageous things, the lolly incident and kissing Crabbe had been some of the sane ones. That potion was messing with Pansy's mind and the spell was definitely making Harry paranoid. Draco previously had suspicions about Blaise having an expression, well if he did it was love because all he did was hug Harry, hold Harry's hand and get all protective over Harry. Harry this, Harry that, yada yada yada, it was driving Draco mad. So that's why he was here searching through a mountain of books with Crabbe and Ron, two of the only people without expressions. It was heaven.

* * *

Back in the tower Harry and Goyle were slowly as possible lowering the A2 piece of parchment into the cold Veritaserum in the cauldron, they turned it over so both sides were covered in it then used a hovering spell waiting for it to dry. They knew it would take a few days but it was essential, one of the main components of the map they were guessing. All they could do now was wait.

Blaise was sitting in the window with his legs dangling out, waiting for Falcon; he should be back as it had almost been a full day. True to his knowledge of Draco's owl, he noticed a dark speck of grey flying towards him. He smiled at the owl, he was secretly jealous of Draco for owning such a beautiful creature, he was a dark grey and white eagle owl. Blaise was in awe watching him fly. He remembered Draco telling him about when he had got him, for his 10th birthday. He was only a baby, small enough to fit in Draco's palm apparently, that way, he would know Draco well enough to be able to go to Hogwarts and Draco would have a familiar owl that wouldn't die or take orders from anyone else, Lucius had always been paranoid. But Falcon was a bit of a rebel like his owner and listened to all of Draco's close friends.

Blaise had to hold out his arm because Falcon couldn't fly into the room, his wings wouldn't fit in the window and he scratched Blaise's arm a bit but he didn't really mind that much. Harry heard the owl rather than seen him and walked over to his boyfriend who was petting him fondly. Harry untied the letter and sat on the bed to read it to the few members in the room.

_Children, _

_When I received your letter I was very surprised to see such a strange combination of students all together trying to sort out this soul expression problem. When I thought about it I realised you are all selfless children. I cannot stop you doing anything you have your hearts set on doing as I myself at that age would not listen to the logic of an adult. So I wish you the best of luck and would like to give you some advice and information. This should be kept between the 7 of you._

_The order was informed of Professor Snape__'__s disappearance and have yet to get a search warrant to raid his house. It is, after all, a private property. It is clear you should be able to get onto it because of Draco__'__s connection with Professor Snape._

_Hermione? I wasn__'__t aware Hermione had gone missing but I haven__'__t been the headquarters for the past few days, I was recovering from the moon. I__'__m deeply sorry this has happened and I understand you must all be distraught at the moment, especially with your soul expressions. (What a strange thing for you all to be infected with!) And Minerva? I am just as shocked but I__'__m sure you will find them all and bring them to safety and yourselves!_

_I have no idea on how you planning on getting there but I__'__m guessing flooing is the best bet, I have enclosed details of a spell that will open a fireplace and enable flooing as I don__'__t want you going to the village. The spell I have enclosed is specific to only a select amount of people, this means once you have flooed in, only you can return with certain people, a strand of hair is needed to activate (see next page)._

_The map? Well, I did vow to my dying day not to tell but this is an emergency and seems Harry is family and the owner now, so I guess I__'__ll pass on the secret. You need some Veritaserum, a monitoring spell, permanent ink, invisible ink, an identity potion, a drop of each of your blood and a binding spell, a tracking potion and once his is applied, (in no particular order) you need to dip it in lukewarm water containing a phoenix feather (might want to see Dumbledore) and dextrose extract. Leave it to dry, NATURALLY; then unfortunately you need to map out the lines, this cannot be done by hand, you must hover the quill over the parchment and send someone into the house with a tracking charm connected to them and link it to the quill, it will draw out all the wards and rooms, any passages, and even passwords. Good luck! I__'__m hoping I have saved you a lot of thinking, after all it took us three years to perfect that map!_

_If there__'__s anything else I can do, do not hesitate to write, I hope to hear from you all at least once a week, please update me on your progress. I hope you are all well and I hope I have helped you a considerable amount._

_Best wishes to you all._

_Remus (Mssr. Moony)_

Blaise smiled at the letter and hugged Harry close. They were one step closer to fixing it all. One day soon, it would all be okay again.

* * *

For the next three days none of the Slytherdors slept apart from Pansy as she was doing all of their homework because they didn't have time. They were drinking two energy potions a day and all had cheering charms on them, apart from Pansy, they didn't need a repeat of the lolly incident.

Draco wasn't really adjusting to Hermione not being there and other students had noticed her absence. Harry and Ron were getting questioned and Draco had to listen to her being insulted by the Slytherins all day. And what made matters worse is they were also being quizzed why that weren't in the dorms. Draco was asked by Theodore if they'd become deatheaters and were at meetings, this had really shocked the Slytherin as it was the latest rumour, he had been wondering why the boys kept saying 'well done' to him; and the girls were all suddenly flocking him; well more than usual. So the days were full of acting and forced smiles. But when it hit 8 o'clock they all worked nonstop and had found every spell and had completed every potion they needed for the map, by the 2nd night the map was finished but needed to be dipped into the water and set. Then it just needed to be drawn, they had agreed not to worry about that until the time came.

It was on the third day, a Sunday, Draco had managed to find a reason to talk to Dumbledore about a made up problem and pick up a fallen phoenix feather out of Fawkes cage casually. He talked about how soft it was for a moment and Dumbledore not realising what Draco was doing had said he could keep it. Draco thanked him with a smile but inside he was smirking. Now all they needed to do was get some dextrose extract.

They had one problem; they didn't know what it was. They were all sat (including Pansy) in front of the fire on the Sunday night, reading the back of potions books looking in the ingredients index. It couldn't be found anywhere. It was Goyle who found it in the end, in a dictionary.

"Guys got it."

"Funny." Draco muttered, he really thought it wouldn't be found in a normal dictionary. Goyle tutted, he hated how Draco thought he was better than him, he was so stuck up. So he wanted to prove him wrong.

"Dextrose: Sugar in fruit and honey: a sugar produced during cellular metabolism in plant and animal tissue. It is found in many fruits, especially grapes, and is a major component of honey and corn syrup. Also called dextroglucose." Everyone looked up at Crabbe who smirked then declared he was going to bed because he was skiving school to go shopping tomorrow. He would never get grapes from the house elves; they never had fruit like that at school.

Draco smiled at everyone. "One step closer!" He jumped up and pulled his shirt over his head, everyone guessed he was going to bed and followed his lead, it was the earliest they had slept in ages and the energy potions kept them all hyper.

They ended up talking until early in the morning about anything and everything. Blaise spoke about the pressure of his mother and her many dead husbands and how he believed that is probably why he was obsessed with not having an arranged marriage, he was scared he would be like one of them men.

Ron talked about how he hated being the youngest brother, everything was a constant pressure to try and impress his parents because everyone had already done everything. He explained how he hated being poor and how any achievements he had were shadowed over by his brothers. Draco found himself understanding except he said he hated being rich and Draco and Ron had a whole discussion about this for around 45 minutes really relating to one another.

Goyle talked about his ill mother, she had fallen ill with something unknown and he wished for her to go to St Mungo's but she refused. Draco's heart really went out to Goyle and he sit and listened and told Goyle he should make his mother go. He explained he had lost his sister Faylen; she had only been 19 when she died and Pansy, Blaise and Ron who hadn't known Draco before Hogwarts were surprised at this knowledge as they hadn't even known he had a sister. They had felt even worse when he said it was only last year she died. But he reassured them that was how Faylen had wanted it; she didn't want loads of people knowing she was disgracing the Malfoy name because she obviously had weak blood. Saying those words out loud now felt so wrong to Draco.

Crabbe had talked about the pressures of his father being a deatheater and how he'd often take his anger out on him, everyone in the room apart from Harry and Ron could relate to that, and they was surprised as soon as it was voiced a whole debate started on it, there was an actual roar of sound from everyone as soon as it had been said. It seemed it was so normal between them to talk about deatheaters. The boys had known the Slytherins parents were deatheaters but they hadn't realised they had disagreed with it. Harry saw everyone in the room in a new light, even Blaise.

Harry talked about the pressures of being expected to save the world, and of how the muggle world worked, how he had believed that was all that existed until 5 short years ago. Draco and Crabbe had found all the muggle things extremely fascinating and he had gone over the concept of how pictures don't move several times, and the telephone had been something to explain over twice.

Pansy had talked about how she felt pressured into her arranged marriage like Blaise and talked about her finding a prince charming, she wanted a boyfriend but was scared about the sex issue, she wasn't allowed, it cancelled her marriage and if that happened she be disowned. She had asked if Blaise and Harry had sex and they admitted they did, she turned to Draco, not asking the question, but it was in the open. Ron and Harry immediately stared daggers into him. Draco almost cowered.

"No we don't have sex, I want to wait until I'm ready, until we both are really. I'm in no rush to lose my virginity." He said honestly, the tension flew out the window after that, Draco was sure he would have been murdered if he'd joked about it.

Draco wasn't sure what to talk about, so he talked about loads of things, he retold the whole tale of how he and Hermione had met, he told them all about Faylen, and how the Malfoy name was such a burden. And by the time they were asleep they had all learned some very valuable things about each other, and in the morning when they woke, there would be a greater understanding a greater respect, for they all truly for once, did respect each other, Hermione would be coming back to a huge surprise!

* * *

They woke in their usual manor only each drinking half a potion each and laughing their way through lessons high on them. And Goyle true to his word had sneaked into Hogsmaid and got 3 packets of grapes. When he sat down eating then at lunch Pansy smacked his hand away and started lecturing him about eating there ingredients.

Harry and Ron noticed the grapes from across the hall and they all couldn't stop smiling, the map just needed to be dipped, they could finish it tonight. Draco's grin could be seen easily all the way from the Gryffindor table and Harry was so happy for Draco, he knew he missed Hermione like mad. And Harry, even though he hadn't really mentioned it, was so worried for her. He was just hoping she hadn't been taken to Voldemort directly. They hadn't spoken of this. But there was a huge chance she may not even be alive. And Harry was sure that this thought hadn't crossed Draco's mind.

Back at the Slytherin table Draco was humming under his breath again, something he hadn't done in a while, and Blaise was thrilled at this. They all turned at a strange sound coming from the end of the table and then they all shook their heads at what was going on. A first year was threatening to kill himself because a girl had turned him down, that was far from funny, it was just the fact he was going to do it by jumping off the table. The boy jumped screaming as he twisted his ankle.

"Bloody soul expressions." Were muttered several places around the hall.

* * *

It was 3:15 and everyone had finished their lessons and immediately they went racing to the tower and entered whispering the password to the dragon; that was for once, awake. They all scrambled in giggling. They went all running over to the fireplace and tipped water in the cauldron and lighted the fire. They waited patiently around it waiting for it to warm.

"_This is it!__"__ Draco squealed. __"__I can__'__t wait to see her beautiful face! Oh she__'__s breathtaking but so much more; she walks in the room, your lungs close, making you never want to breathe again!_" Draco sang happily, he resisted jumping on the couches.

They all smiled at him, Ron stirred the water in the cauldron slowly, and they '_aquamenti__'_ed the fire, dropping the feather and the grapes in at the same time.

"Do you think it will work?"

"I bloody well hope so." Ron mumbled, "We've worked so hard, I didn't even know I could work like that, you've remolded my head, might start studying or something!" they all laughed. They crossed their fingers as they dripped it in and it glowed a faint blue, then went back to normal. They used a hovering spell like before and left it to dry.

The hours ticked by and none of them went to dinner, far too excited, they had been waiting for this forever. And finally, at half past six it was dry. They all took it down as if it was a diamond, and placed it just as preciously on the table.

They stared in silence at it. No-one daring to move, they knew what was coming next.

"So who's going to go?" Pansy asked finally. They all exchanged looks nervously it was clear nobody wanted to go with it unsafe. Nobody answered. They sat awkwardly in silence for the next minutes, until the answer smacked them in the face, or rather jumped onto the new map.

Blaise and Draco's face instantly broke out into a slow smirk. Pansy's baby sweet voice innocently filled the room as he cooed over there solution.

"Ohhh Crookshanks …"

* * *

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge . This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Songs included in this chapter are: "Gallery" by **Mario Adrián Vázquez**


	22. To the Room of Requirement

It wasn't until Pansy actually picked up Crookshanks and started fussing over him when Goyle realised they had made a mistake. Kind of…

"Hey, haven't we missed something?" They all exchanged curious looks. Then Draco's face fell into a highly un-amused expression.

"We haven't done the fireplace yet." As soon as the words had left Draco's mouth everyone's expressions matched his, apart from Pansy who looked disgusted at the ginger fur in her hands and instantly let go of it then walked back out the room to take another 'lush' bath, this called for chocolate and a magazine, it was horrible being the only girl, she would need extra comfort tonight.

Blaise and Harry stared worriedly at Draco as he got up to go to bed. Suddenly Crabbe stood up glaring at them.

"Draco, Pansy, stop right there, if we work together we'll get the fireplace finished by morning, we can't leave Snape and Hermione there much longer can we?" Ron stood up as well, knowing they had to do this.

He looked around the room, Pansy had gone back into the bathroom, Draco was laying fully clothed on the bed, Harry had bursted into tears because he wasn't going to save Hermione and Snape and Blaise started crying because Harry was upset. This was ridiculous.

"Blaise, Draco's upset, I need to save him!" Harry wailed into his boyfriends shoulder. Ron tutted, these bloody soul expressions!

"EVERYONE GET YOUR ARSES BACK IN HERE AND HELP ME WITH THE FIRE PLACE, BLOODY HELL, PANSY I MEANT FOR YOU TO GET DRESSED FIRST!" Ron yelled, turning the other way and going bright red. That girl had been normal before her soul expression.

Harry stood up; wiping tears from his face with a determined look on his face, Blaise instantly stopped crying, an admiring look on his face. Harry walked over to the table with the Marauders Map above it and picked up Professor Lupin's letter, he then sat cross legged on the floor in front of Draco.

"_The method I'll be teaching you children by paper is quite complicated but I'm sure between the seven of you, you will master it. It is not a standard floo spell because you are all to floo at the same time. The floo powder has been provided in the grey envelope, DO NOT LOSE IT! IT'S VERY EXPENSIVE!" _Draco sniffled and sat up taking the letter off Harry, who smiled.

"_To open the fire place, use the standard floo clearing spell (Draco you should know this.)" _Draco read. "Oh, and I do by the way." He added then looked back down. "Anyway, _you are to channel it only to Professor Snape's house and to the room of requirement, no-where else!_"

"_After you've set the channels, you all need to step into the fire place at the same time with a strand of your hair and the floo powder, drop them one after the other and the last person is to say the destination. I have wrote that you should also link it to the room of requirement because I want you to practise by going there first, in case the spell isn't working properly, okay? By using this method of floo, it enables more security; it only opens the floo for anyone travelling with you seven. No-one can floo on their own it won't allow it, it's two or more, and anyone accompanying you will have to hold onto you; kind of like side along flooing. So no-one but you children can get in and out of that fireplace, okay? I can't have you all being murdered in your sleep, I'd never forgive myself."_

"_If you are all clear with that go and do it, floo into the room of requirement to activate it, and then you can go on your little mission thing. Only, if you write to me telling me when you're going, who is going, and update me when you get back. Good luck. Professor Lupin. PS. This letter did not happen, it doesn't exist, you haven't heard from me in weeks. I'm not part of this plan, is that clear? Otherwise I'll disclose childhood secrets this includes, Blaise, Draconis, Gregory, Vincent and Pansy, I have my sources." _Draco frowned at the last part… he sounded like looked up from the instructions and was startled to see everyone had sat in front of him on the bed and floor.

"I don't get it." Crabbe said scratching his head.

"What don't you get, the threatening?" Blaise asked. "Because it sounded pretty clear to me, we'll be doomed, I was a demon child."

"I won't." Said Ron. "I've got Fred and George for brothers, no-one can beat them. My childhood is daisies compared to theirs."

"I meant the floo." Crabbe confirmed.

"You wouldn't." Pansy muttered, now dressed, and rolled her eyes.

"Don't be mean, Pansy, apologise now." Draco said crossly, no-one could fall out, they needed to save Hermione.

"Fine, sorry."

"Maybe I don't want to accept it Pansy, everyone treats me inferior because I'm not as smart as you all." Crabbe fumed; Goyle patted him on the back.

"Accept it now." Draco narrowed his eyes.

"Okay, Draco!" He said cheerfully causing Pansy to roll her eyes again.

"So what are we doing now?" Goyle asked.

"Well the floo channeling is simple, I can have that finished in a few hours, you guys can just relax I guess. Then we can all floo to the room of requirement." Everyone nodded.

"Does this mean I can go for my bath now?" Pansy asked hesitantly, she didn't want Ron to yell at her again.

"Yeah, suppose." Blaise yawned. He lay back onto the bed and Harry sat down beside him. The other five all wandered off doing there different things.

"Do you think we'll get them back, Harry?" Blaise looked up, Harry was hovering above him smiling, but his smile wavered at the question.

"I hope so, I need to save them. Hermione was my second friend ever, I don't want to lose her, she wants to work at the ministry and change animal enslavement laws, and she wants to publish a book, and she did mention travelling to Egypt to translate runes at one point and I want to watch her do them amazing things, I want to be there every step of the way." Harry felt a sting in his eyes but blinked back any tears, he didn't like crying in front of Blaise because of the whole 'don't show weakness' thing.

"She will go far, that Granger. I've got a good feeling about that one, Draco and her are good for each other." Harry nodded in agreement. It was weird to thing how fast everything had happened, two weeks ago, he and Blaise had been running around behind their friends backs, Draco and Hermione had hated each other. Ron wouldn't be seen flirting with Pansy, but now that was becoming a regular occurrence as well. The eight of them had bonded so much and it was all thanks to the boy lying down in his lap. Harry suddenly grinned; this light haired angel was his boyfriend. He was his first serious relationship, who he gave his virginity to and who had captured his heart, the grin spread further. And he had taken off his ring. Harry had noted that Draco still wore his, less proudly than before, but it was still there.

A growl of frustration redirected his attention. He watched Draco in fascination as Blaise played with his left hand, grasping it between his own and kissing along his palm, Harry wasn't really registering the sweet gesture though. Draco was kneeled in the soot of the fireplace, his hair had been tousled at the back, a black hand print was along the side of his face and his uniform was ruined. He looked totally pissed off that that moment, he had a book in his left hand, his wand in his right and was sat facing the back wall of the fireplace. The grey ashes were ruining his socks and trousers; he didn't seem to care though. Harry watched as Draco stood up and kicked the fireplaces back wall in frustration then made a strangled sort of gasp and glared at it.

"Bloody fire place, it's not co-operating. Work with me, damn it!" Draco yelled into the ashes.

"Draco do you want some…"

"I DON'T NEED HELP I CAN DO IT!"

"…hot chocolate; I'm going to the kitchen…" Ron finished trying to keep the smile of his face, Draco blushed.

"Oh, erm thanks Weasley that would be great, oh and can you get me some food, we didn't eat did we?"

"Oh yeah I know, I'm starving, I'll just bring Dobby up then." Draco nodded and turned to the fireplace again as Ron walked out the portrait under the invisibility cloak. Harry was so glad that those two were getting on. He had been worried about Ron hating Blaise, but then he found Hermione was courting Draco he wasn't worried about it anymore, after all, Blaise would be the last thing on Ron's mind. But thankfully, he had accustomed to both Blaise and Draco wonderfully.

After a while Blaise noticed Harry watching Draco, he turned and looked at him as well, leaning on his elbow no longer in Harry's lap.

"He hasn't sung in ages, do you think he has finally fallen?" Harry whispered, realising Blaise's focus.

"I don't think so, he was humming earlier."

"But you said he used to do that before."

"Well Harry, he has more important things on his mind, like Hermione." Blaise gestured looking at the soot covered Draco just to prove his point. He thought he'd never see anything like this; Draco Malfoy was now standing INSIDE a fireplace. Blaise jumped as he turned around and looked straight at them.

"Yeah it does. And she could have been murdered, raped, run over, shot, assassinated, _crucio_'ed, buried alive, held captive, tortured, burned at the stake…"

"Cheering charm." Everyone said in agreement from different parts of the tower.

"_Joyeusement_." Blaise muttered just as Draco sat back down, the white light hit the marble of the fireplace and fanned out.

"DUCK!" Harry yelled, pushing him and Blaise off the bed, and then popping his head above it to see if anyone had been hit. To everyone's utter horror, Pansy was standing in a towel having just walked out the bathroom, eyes wide and a huge smile on her face, she was bouncing up and down and twitching and could be mistaken easily for a five year old with a sugar rush.

"This isn't even funny." Crabbe and Goyle then locked themselves in the bathroom as Pansy started almost literally bouncing off the walls, Draco sat in the fireplace oblivious, either that or he could ignore yells of terror and breaking vases. In reality he was accustomed to it.

"Hello there, Deidre!" Pansy said suddenly and stopped bouncing on the bed. (This was scarring because she was in her towel.)

"No, I'm Harry."

"Oh, sorry. Hi there, Margaret."

"I'm Har-ry." He pronounced clearly.

"Well Ethel is Harry." Blaise bursted out laughing, Harry shot him a look of disapproval.

"Come on Pansy, why don't you give me a hug!" Harry said holding his wand behind his back.

"Who am I?" Pansy sat down on the floor confused, thinking deeply to herself.

"You're Pansy, now will you give me a hug?" Blaise tried.

"I know who I am, I'm Blaise Zabini!" She stood up looking pleased with herself. Blaise tried not to laugh.

"You just keep telling yourself that honey." Blaise said tapping her on the back, the portrait was closed this time, there was nowhere she could go really, and he walked off and flopped onto the couch.

"I know who I am, I'm Blaise Zabini, I know who I am, I'm Blaise…"

It was at that moment that Draco started kicking the fireplace, tears of frustration pouring down his face. Harry turned from Pansy and stood behind Draco wand raised, he was sure to aim correctly before he cast the spell.

"Draco, why don't you tell me about Hermione?" He asked as sweetly as possible. Draco span around a huge grin on his face and his eyes glittering.

"So _many emotions, I just couldn't tell, I kept it to myself, I trusted no-one else_." Draco sang advancing on Harry who backed away slightly. He nodded and smiled too scared to do anything else as Draco sang. "_Should have let my feelings show, now it's time to let it go!_" It was quite a high song, Harry noticed and he realised Draco had a brilliant voice, he would never be able to hit that note but Draco did it with ease that left Harry wondering whether it was the potion or not.

"That's nice Draco. Now why don't you finish the…"

"_I got a feeling it's coming my way, I got a feeling, her love is to stay, I got a feeling and I'm so amazed!" _Draco nodded at Harry enthusiastically.

"Aww isn't that nice Draco." He agreed with him, not daring to do anything else to the boy who was manically happy in front of him.

"Hmm, yes it is, we're going to get married and have millions of children, _and then we're… Going to the chapel and we're, gonna get married, going to the chapel and we're going to get married! Gee I really love you and we're…"_

"Real cute Draco, fireplace." Blaise said picking him up from behind and turning him to face the fireplace. Draco looked intent at it.

"I know lets save Hermione!" He picked up the book and started reciting spells again. Harry looked relieved; he might have cast it a bit strong, even for Draco. He turned as the portrait opened and Ron walked in followed by Dobby who was hovering seven plates. Pansy went running over to him and started crying in his shoulder.

"They tried to feed me to the Easter bunny, Ron!" She wailed, sobbing loudly. He tapped her back and looked at Harry and Blaise confused. They mouth 'cheering charm' and he nodded hugging her back properly.

Draco's attention moved from the fire place when food finally arrived, there were seven plates each containing bacon and sausage sandwiches, Draco looked offended.

"Where's mine?" He whined. Blaise leaned over the sandwiches and lifted the top slice of bread off a few before casting a quick cleaning charm on Draco then handing it to him. Ron looked questionly at Draco as he double checked the contents of his sandwich before taking a bite.

"Vegetarian." He said a mouthful of Quorn, a huge smile on his face at Ron's disgusted look.

"You don't eat meat?" Draco shook his head 'no'.

"Really?" Ron looked perplexed. "No sausages, bacon, steak,"

"Ew, no! You're making me feel sick, Weasley." Draco screwed up his face.

"Fish?" Ron said trying to catch him out.

"NO!"

"But that's not normal, do you not have Sunday dinner with potatoes and…"

"Yes, but just not meat, Weasley, get over it."

Silence.

"No wonder you're so skinny Malfoy. You don't get any fat."

"I get plenty of fat, shut up Weasley! It's normal; some people don't eat meat get over it okay."

Silence.

"So not even white meat?"

"WEASLEY!"

It wasn't until around midnight that Draco finally cracked it and managed to finish the fireplace connections. He told them all with a triumphant smirk.

"Well done Draco." Pansy yawned, the charm had worn off and she'd tired herself out by trying to climb inside a suit of armour, resulting in Ron getting a black eye. They all picked up an energy potion off the table and clanked them together with a 'cheers' before downing them.

"Right, we gonna try this then?"

"Of course," Harry smiled, they stepping into the fireplace one by one dropping the powder and one of their hairs then finally Goyle yelled,

"ROOM OF REQUIREMENT!"

* * *

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge . This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

Author Notes:

Thankful for all the reviews everyone and a big sorry to the delay with the update. ~ducks as thing are thrown~ I do apologise though! I got so much positive feedback from the last chapter, thank you all!

* * *

Songs included in this chapter were 'Beautiful Girls' by Sean Kingston, 'Fantasy' by Appleton and 'Everytime we touch' by previously mentioned Cascada, 'I got a feeling' was by Headhunters featuring Karen Danzing and finally, "Chapel of Love" is a song written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector, and made famous by The Dixie Cups in 1964.


	23. The Lake

_Look, look at the lake, _

_If you have some time to take,_

_To sit and think and ponder,_

_And allow your mind to wander,_

_Think, think of who's been at the lake._

_Two lovers at the shore on stones, not wanting to hide their moans,_

_A group of friends looking for fun,_

_As they laugh and jump and run,_

_A family on a lovely outing,_

_Where the parents won't be shouting. _

_A fisherman with a net,_

_Thinking of fish he wants to get._

_A teenage girl all by herself, wishing she was somewhere else? _

_A bird that landed just by chance, _

_But took some time to eat the plants._

_Look, look at the lake, _

_If you have some time to take,_

_To sit and think and ponder,_

_And allow your mind to wander,_

_Think; think of who's been at the lake._

_But as those friends did laugh and run, _

_They slipped and drowned one by one. _

_And after when the girl did rest,_

_Her boyfriend had just got dressed,_

_He got a knife and slit her throat,_

_And into the lake her corpse did go._

_Then there are the parents, who weren't going to fight,_

_Just so the children would think they're alright,_

_Their Dad gave up on this scheme and so their blood did form a stream._

_The fisherman went home empty handed,_

_Except for the bird he shot when it landed. _

_And finally that teenage lass,_

_Whose hands sat playing with the grass,_

_Stabbed herself with a knife she found,_

_And then lay sleeping on the ground._

* * *

Hermione wished these words were not true, she really did. But unfortunately soul expressions couldn't lie, and therefore it was one of the many poems in her notebook that were true. For the past week or so she had sat watching the lake, she had nothing else to do. One by one so many deaths had happened around that lake, so many innocent lives had been taken; it was a magnet for it. She wasn't sure why, it was such a beautiful place but had such a morbid atmosphere to it. Maybe it was what was going on in the place she was being held? Evil was creeping through the hallways, running through the pipes and seeping under her door; literally, it had become clear dementors were outside her room within a few hours of her waking up the first day. She wanted to get out of here, it was all too much for her soul expression, but she had a problem, an obvious one; she didn't even know where she was and it was a disaster.

Every day she sat in the window seat of her new room, a room she didn't know and a room she didn't want to get comfortable in, she knew her friends were coming for her. She was relaying on them to do so because she was sure she couldn't starve herself any longer, she didn't dare eat the food that appeared every morning in fear of being poisoned. But if they wanted to kill her they would have done it by now, they had already had a million chances, whoever they was. So it was highly understandable that she was so confused. Why was she alive? And why wasn't she in a dungeon somewhere? She shook her head a bit her lip thinking deeply to herself, quill and notebook in hand. Hermione stared out below, the distance between her room and the water was horrifying but these past few days had been tempting. She'd stopped crying and screaming, she wasn't getting out until her friends came for her.

Ergo, until then she was trying to keep her mind off the fact she was being kept against her will and tried to enjoy her stay, well as much as someone being held hostage could anyway. The room she was in was hospitable that was for sure and if you cared to look at the décor intently as she had done it was clear she was someone where grand, a manor or castle maybe? She didn't know, and she was pretty sure she wouldn't for a long time. The map would take around 3 weeks to make, then they'd have to go to Snape's and find him, maybe her as well after all she could possibly be in Snape manor. Although she could never imagine the Professor living somewhere like this he seemed very isolated, he probably had a tiny cottage in the middle of nowhere with a library and his basement would have a potions lab… As you can tell Hermione has been really bored the past few days… as well as slightly suicidal.

* * *

Our hero's seem to have got themselves into a highly disturbing situation, position actually. They appeared to have flooed into a blocked off fireplace, the only way they could tell was because ash and soot covered them. So the seven of them were trapped in about a meter of space, obviously this seems impossible. I assure you, it isn't.

Pansy's hair was stuck under Blaise's boot heel and Blaise was upside down half on the floor his legs against the wall. Ron had his face in Pansy's cleavage (much to his enjoyment and high embarrassment) and he was being squashed by Crabbe, who's got Draco's foot up his arse even though Draco's laying on the floor with Harry sat on his stomach and Goyle? Goyle was standing and laughing. Ron's words summed this all up nicely.

"Bloody hell."

* * *

Hermione decided it was getting late, she wouldn't dare to watch the sunset, it made her pine for freedom and remember _'Summer Love'_ the song Draco sang to her, she wasn't sure why, but it did and she hated remembering how he was with her. She missed him so much.

She climbed out of the window and closed the curtains. She placed the notebook she'd found in one of the dresser draws on top of her chair and pulled off her uniform, she had been sleeping in her school shirt, her tie had been off for days now. She tried to forget the fact she hadn't showered, used deodorant or changed her clothes for a week, the underwear issue was disgusting it had been off since three days ago, she didn't want to get any embarrassing infections. She was going to bath until the water gave her frostbite when Draco came for her.

"_Draco_…" Her face softened. She really did miss him. She did miss Harry and Ron as well, and surprisingly everyone else, but it was heartbreaking being away from Draco. She supposed it was the soul expression, 10 times more powerful than what other people feel.

She tried to shake her thoughts off as she climbed into the bed, she tried but failed. The first night she had been here she was exhausted having spent the day screaming and banging the door, fighting the dementor's power had been hard. She's learned to stay away from the door; it made her feel like she was in Azkaban. So by the time night fell she had expected to collapse with fatigue. But she didn't she tossed and turned missing the warm structure she had become accustomed to sleeping behind her. She missed the hard chest against her back, the tickle of his breath in her hair, the strong arms that used to hold her so protectively. It was hell that first night, she cried herself to sleep praying Draco wasn't in this much pain.

Hermione shook her head, there was no point thinking about it. So she forgot about Draco and tried to worry about the school work she was missing, her parents and her friends but she was plagued with dreams of blonde hair and blue eyes.

* * *

Draco, Blaise, Ron, Crabbe, Harry, Goyle and Pansy are out of there queer position and are on each other's laps. Goyle was at the bottom, complaining about the weight, Crabbe next, then Harry on Crabbe, Blaise is on Harry saying he's sorry and will go on a diet, then Ron who's telling Goyle to stop complaining and Draco (to his dismay) was on him, then Pansy's at the top complaining she thinks her nail varnish is chipped.

"You know Pansy; your soul expression has made you really obsessed with how you look."

"It's probably the boyfriend thing; I really want a boyfriend you know. Really bad, am I ugly? Oh Merlin, I'm ugly that's why I can't get one isn't it!" Pansy then conjured a mirror and was inspecting her face.

"Hey," choked out Crabbe. "Erm, I'd love to have this conversation but I've got around 70 stone on me."

"Oh, I'm fat! That's it isn't it! Why didn't you tell me Draco! I'm your best friend! Remember when I told you that you were losing your six pack? I'd expect you to return the favour. It's what friends do…." Ron sighed.

"Can we try floo back out before we kill Crabbe." Blaise gasped from somewhere in the jumble of limbs.

"Good idea."

"Who's got the powder then?" Crabbe breathed heavily from the bottom before he passed out.

* * *

Hermione felt like she'd been sleeping only a few minutes when she heard an insistent tapping on the door, she sat up shocked. A second later the door creaked open and boy around her age stood in the doorway.

"Miss Granger? My name is Nott, my Lord has been informed you are not eating and has sent up some food. Can I come in?" Hermione didn't really have a choice. She nodded her mouth going dry even though she had been drinking. There was always a pitcher of water on her desk.

Nott walked in hovering a tray of food, and though Hermione hadn't eaten in 7 days and was painfully hungry the first thing she looked at wasn't the food but his wand.

"Don't think about it Miss Granger, you touch this wand it will burn your skin off." Hermione's eyes widened. "Handy little spell deatheaters like me learn." He sat at the foot of her bed and Hermione pulled the covers up higher, she didn't want him to see her naked lower half. He placed the tray in front of her.

"It's not poisoned, watch." He picked up the fork and ate a mouthful of mashed potato. He passed Hermione the fork encouragingly. She hesitantly reached and took it from him, not really sure what was going on.

"Who are you?" She asked as she ate, looking at him nervously.

"I told you, Mr Nott. I've been ordered to stay here until you've eaten that, then I'm taking you to the bathroom down the hall to bathe, get some clothes, then you have plans tomorrow."

"What plans?" She immediately stopped eating.

"If I told you, that would be no fun would it." He said teasing, it wasn't very nice. It scared Hermione.

There was silence until she finished then as promised he took her to the bathroom (after turning away when she got dressed) She showered and he gave her some black and silver dress robes, they were comfortable, obviously expensive; but not what she was used too. He walked her back to her room and he kissed her hand goodnight, she stiffened. What the hell was going on?

"Goodnight, Mr Nott." She said not very politely, looking down at him, a trick she had learned from Draco; normally it intimidated a little, in this case it was useless.

"Please," he smiled. "Call me Theo."

* * *

When the seven flooed the second time, they were successful and arrived in the room of requirement, it was a plain white room, Draco supposed it was because they didn't need anything. He was the first to stumble out the fire place when he lost his footing and fell out and straight onto the floor.

"Pansy, are you okay?" Draco turned to see himself running towards himself and looking concerned at him.

"What the fuck?" Came Pansy's high voice. Draco reached out and poked the impostor in front of him.

"Erm… who the FUCK is in my body?" The tone and words sounded all wrong on Pansy but Draco didn't care he jumped up and pushed 'himself' out of the way and stood up looking at pale ringed fingers, slender arms and everything was confirmed when he looked down and couldn't see his feet. This was the most peculiar thing that had ever happened to him.

"AAAARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!"

"Pansy, please calm down."

"I'M NOT PANSY! I'M DRACO!" The Draco-Pansy yelled. Everyone looked alarmed.

"I'm Pansy!" Blaise said she too was looking down at her body. "I have the strangest urge to hug Ron Weasley." The imposer Draco looked strange at her at she flung herself at Ron.

"Erg, Pansy get off me I'm Vince, Crabbe, whatever, just off!"

"Where's Ron? OH WOE IS ME! MY HEART IS BREAKING! NEED… TO… HUG… RON… LOVE… RON… SPOIL AND CARE AND KISS AND HUG RON!" Pansy-Blaise then bursted into tears.

"You do have a soul expression!" Draco-Pansy said turning to Blaise.

"I'm Pansy."

"Where's Blaise?"

"Here." said Crabbe raising his hand. "This is weird, I feel really… depressed and want to watch theatre…" they all exchanged confused looks.

"Theatre?"

"Depressed?" Came different voices simultaneously.

"Yeah, it's really weird, I just have the strangest urge to dance, nothing unbearable mind you, but it's really weird. I'm depressed slightly, but I want to dance…."

Every one turned to the Crabbe-Ron. He shrugged, "I like dancing, I'm fat, and so I get down sometimes." Everyone ignored the Blaise-Crabbe who had moved into a demi-plea and was reciting a ballet sequence. Pansy tutted and rolled her eyes in Blaise's body, Harry thought it looked adorable in Blaise's body.

"You've never spoken of this before. You're not fat, you're well built." Draco said concerned about the depression.

"Pansy didn't say she fancied Ron." His friend argued.

"OH WHERE'S RON? I'M GOING TO DIE WITHOUT HIM!" She yelled reminding Harry of Nicky from the muggles series of 'Big Brother'.

"Blaise do you feel that strongly when away from Harry? You're not THAT bad."

"Most times, but I was like that before the expression, I'm just more discreet and less melodramatic."

"Pansy be quiet, I'm Ron!" yelled Ron-Draco. Suddenly Pansy-Blaise had flung herself onto Ron-Draco and was kissing him like it was the last she would experience. Pure surprise was etched into Ron's face and it looked absolutely hilarious on Draco, who hardly ever showed emotions like that.

"HEY! Don't abuse my body! Get Blaise off me."

"That's Pansy I'm right here."

"Yeah but, PANSY! It's weird to see myself snogging Blaise, he's my mate it's scarring and it's gay."

"HEY!" Blaise-Crabbe said offended.

"Not in a bad way, it's just weird."

"Right!" Said Goyle, speaking for the first time. "What has happened? This needs to be thought about logically. And get off my boyfriends arse!" This was obviously Harry.

"I'm here." Blaise-Crabbe informed everyone again, now on the floor in the splits touching his toes, he flipped doing clockwork splits and everyone looked surprised as he reached for the opposite toes to stretch and reach.

"BUT THAT'S YOUR BODY!" Harry had continued yelling not worried his boyfriend was actually on the floor doing gymnastics. Ron and Pansy in their Draco/Blaise body pulled away from each other.

"I think I'm going to be sick." The Ron-Draco said before clutching his stomach, for a moment Pansy looked offended, that was until he burst into song.

"_You're way to beautiful girl! That's why it will never work! You'll have me suicidal, suicidal, when you say it's over, damn all these beautiful girls, they only wanna do ya dirt, they'll have you suicidal, suicidal, when they say it's over!_" Ron-Draco sang defiantly at Pansy-Blaise.

"_I ain't falling around, now you see, what's about to get down. You gotta prove to me boy that you got what it takes; now I bet you can't wait, for me to be your fantasy."_ Pansy sang back smoothly, folding her arms and smirking at Ron's confused expression.

Draco looked confused and turned away slowly; he wasn't used to Pansy's body. "Lets forget them; we need to get this sorted." Everyone else agreed and sat on the hard floor, ignoring Ron and Pansy who were having random song wars at each other, Ron, because he couldn't help it and Pansy, because she could.

"Okay, we must have gone wrong somewhere." Harry stated again trying to run his hand through Goyle's short hair and almost laughing at his stupidity, the hair felt spiky against his fingers, both his and Blaise's were long he wasn't used to that.

"Well, last time it worked we just appeared into the wrong fireplace."

"I know!" Blaise said looking pleased with himself in Crabbe's body. "Last time when we dropped the powder, we did it one after another, this time we did it all the same time."

"That still really doesn't explain much."

"Yes it does." Disagreed Draco. "The flooing system acted for us all as one person, not as seven, do you remember Lupin said if we flooed someone else they had to hold on? It's probably that, we were flooed as one person so it jumbled us together, our minds are in each others bodies." Harry nodded slowly, it did make sense.

They all giggled as Ron grabbed Pansy by the hands and started singing: "'cause every time we touch I get this feeling and every time we kiss I swear I could fly, can't you hear my heart…" it wasn't the song it was just the fact that it appeared to be Draco singing it to Blaise. It was very a very strange experience.

The real Blaise stopped laughing before everyone else and sucked his teeth to get attention, well, Crabbe's teeth.

"What about the expression?" He asked once all eyes were on him.

"The bodies are carrying expressions as well as the minds of people, you've got one on your mind, so that's why you wanted to dance even though you're in Crabbe's body, but that would be Crabbe's expression."

"That is ridiculous."

"Hmm, makes sense though, hopefully Crabbe won't have an expression now."

"He won't, it's not possible." Harry mumbled.

Draco grinned, rubbing his back; he wasn't used to the strange weight at the front of his chest. "Hey, anything's possible; I didn't think I would ever have boobs." Draco stated gesturing to his chest. Everyone laughed.

"I think we should just floo back out, that way Ron can get off my boyfriends body, it's weird." They all stood up and managed to pry Ron and Pansy from each other before flooing back correctly and arriving backing Cronan Tower in their own bodies.

When they got there, they realised it was 2 am, so they called it a night and all departed for bed after they had shoved Crookshanks into Snape's house hoping he got there, but all was confirmed to have went well when the pen hovering over the paper started drawing out lines. They all sighed in relief; Hermione would kill them if they hurt him.

* * *

200 miles away, at a small house in the middle of a tiny village, Crookshanks was picked up rather harshly as soon as he arrived and was bought to eye level. Nails were digging lightly into his fur where he was being held by the skin on the back of his neck.

"What do we have here?" Crookshanks scratched the abuser and as soon as he was dropped he ran, planning to hide for a very long time.

* * *

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

'The Lake' is written by and belongs to Emma Bowler. Songs included in this chapter are: 'Beautiful Girls' by Sean Kingston, and 'Fantasy' by Appleton. - These were not included in the last chapter, I typed them in by mistake, appoligies.


	24. Draco's Madness

"COME ON GUYS, UP!" Harry yelled in the morning, pulling all the curtains open above the beds. Draco sat up and pushed down his thoughts. Hermione used to wake everyone up…. He dragged himself out of bed and then walked to the bathroom as fast as he could before Pansy got there. He had left his uniform on the dresser in there last night, so he got changed there, done his hair and brushed his teeth in record time and smiled at the queue of sleepy people outside the bathroom.

"Oi, Potter, I'm going to breakfast, okay?" He called to Harry just to let him know, otherwise he'd probably come up with some crazy story about how he could have been eaten by an evil-giant-super-killer-mutant-basilisk and he didn't save him.

Harry looked up from making everyone's beds and nodded; as Draco turned his back he felt a warm sensation hit him. He turned around and looked at his friends; no-one was looking at him, weird. And he felt it again as he walked out the portrait, he whipped around fast this time to see Harry just putting down his wand.

"Oh… Cheering charm." He realised when he felt a huge grin appear on his face, he'd be sure not to eat any sugar this morning, or he would be a nightmare.

* * *

The potions door banged open and surprisingly enough Madam Hooch walked in. The teachers had been taking turns covering for Snape while he was gone. The class calmed down instantly and waited for instructions.

She really did look ridiculous in Snape's chair and desk and Draco was finding it hard not to laugh at the sight of a woman.

"I take it this is 6th year potions?" Her sharp voice made it easily to the back of the classroom. A few people confirmed. "Very well." She shuffled through some parchments in Snape's draw before she began to take the register, Draco waited for his name.

"Malfoy?"

"I am here!" Draco replied in a very loud and very girly voice, he batted his eyelashes at Hooch who looked slightly disgusted.

"Potter?" She called after a few moments.

"He's dead." Draco said in a deadly serious voice, Harry who was sat at the back of the room rolled his eyes, and then glared at Ron who had tried not to laugh.

"Who? Mr Potter? How? When?" Draco was pleased to find she actually sounded worried.

"Dunno ain't happened yet, give it a few months though." Pansy laughed next to him and disguised it as a cough, while Crabbe looked slightly confused like the rest of the Slytherins at Draco's weird behaviour.

"Weasley?" The Professor continued.

"He's dead too."

"Mr Weasley, please confirm if you are indeed dead." Ron who was staring at Pansy across the room didn't hear a word of it, and Harry elbowed him harshly. He realised the whole class was staring at him waiting and he turned a fetching shade of red and answered that he was here and indeed, not dead.

"Okay, enough fun, I know Severus is normally very strict and you're not to slack while he's gone. Today we shall be studying truth potions for our next lesson when we shall be making them, I believe Professor Dumbledore will be your cover next week because he's the only one who the Ministry can allow to demonstrate them. If you don't listen, carefully, and make it wrong then… MR WEASLEY!" Ron who had not been listening, but staring at Pansy again, jumped. "Then I shall think Professor Snape to be thrilled as the school population will be down one Weasley." Ron gulped loudly.

Harry looked over at Draco as Hooch continued to lecture the class. Draco scribbled something into his book, then ripped it out and threw it at Harry. It hit him between the eyes and Draco dissolved into fits of laughter, interrupting Hooch.

"Mr Malfoy!"

"Which one?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've got split personality disorder, and at the moment one of them is suicidal so I was wondering if you could help me out because I'm in a hostage situation." Hooch just looked confused.

"Mr Malfoy, do stop being ridiculous…" Harry read the note while Draco continued to get his ass chewed by Hooch.

"_Oi Potter, how many cheering charms did you blast me with this morning, I feel like I'm flying."_

Harry smiled to himself and started to hum a funeral march, Pansy must have given him one too, Ron snickered under his breath. Hooch didn't turn her attention to Harry because she seemed to be arguing with Draco still.

"Oh come off it Hoochy, I know what you did with Professor Snape under an invisibility cloak in the middle of a match, 50 foot in the air, on a 'Comet360', doggy style." Then entire class who had just been baffled by Draco at this point burst out laughing and Hooch went bright red.

"Malfoy, go stand in the corner!" She barked at him; Draco stood up and walked into the corner of the potions lab. He shuffled around for a bit and looked over to Harry and then to Pansy. Harry looked at him and shrugged questionably.

"I think Pansy did one after me, she walked out too smiley." Harry whispered behind him as Draco was literally only a few feet away from him.

"Why would she do that? Is she mad, I'm on cloud six thousand and seventy two point three five."

"Dunno, I think it was something to do with Dumbledore, he wants you to go to him 2nd lesson, apparently, he told Pansy last night but she forgot to mention it."

"Oh great, I'm going to be bouncing around his office. I feel so high I'm surprised I'm not tripping out."

"Well, maybe you need it."

"What possibly could I need to be this for? You're a gay." Harry blinked a few times.

"Well, yeah. Talk about stating the obvious Malfoy."

"Harry… shhh, be quite we all don't want to know that Hooch likes it hardcore!" Harry and Ron turned around in their seats in shock and Hooch looked furious as the class all dissolved into fits of laughter.

"MR MALFOY!"

"Aww, you're grumpy, you need a hug." Draco walked across the classroom and threw his arms around Hooch and gave her a big hug, she looked highly disturbed. Pansy was starting to think another teacher would go home because of him.

"MALFOY! SIT DOWN NOW!" Draco very slowly and poshly walked over to his seat got out a handkerchief and wiped his seat with it. He then sat down and drummed his fingers on the table.

"I'm not loved, no - one wants me! And my girlfriend is," Pansy clamped a hand over his mouth and removed it disgusted as he then pretended to cry really, really loud. Goyle, who was sat in the other side of him, tapped his back comforting him. Ron, who was sat across the opposite side of the classroom, was in hysterics almost falling under the table, under the disapproving glare of Harry. Blaise was trying not to laugh and Pansy was starting to regret the cheering charm. But really, he needed it.

"Mr Malfoy?" Draco continued the loud sobs that echoed around the walls of the dungeon, completely ignoring Hooch, who looked more stressed every second that passed.

"Earth calling space cadet Malfoy, are you listening to a word I am saying?"

Draco looked up seriously. "Erm, yes Miss, I just thought you would want to know I'm not loved or wanted." Obviously it was normal to do things like this, or so Draco thought.

"Stop it Malfoy or I **will **give you a detention! And Severus won't like it! It'll break your record."

"But it wasn't me it was Chesney!" Draco stood up and argued extremely passionately.

"Who's Chesney, Mr Malfoy? There is no Chesney in this class."

"He's my uncles... girlfriends, nieces... pet gorilla's... teddy!"

"Malfoy, are you mentally sane? Because I'm sure there something wrong with you. Did you take a bludger to the head last game?"

"No, I didn't get hit by a bludger; I'm much too good for that. And as for the sane thing? Well, I don't know Madam, I did have an appointment, but I missed it, so I have to make another one to find out." The giggles from his classmates were back again and Ron was sat underneath the table laughing like mad, Seamus trying to pull him back up with Harry.

"Oh sit down, Mr. Malfoy." Her tone indicated she was about to give up, she hadn't taught Malfoy since he was 13 and with age he seemed to have got worse.

"Okay Madam." Draco saluted her, sat down and then stared at her constantly for the next 5 minutes, humming under his breath. Until Harry flicked some parchment across the classroom to him. He opened it under the table.

"Malfoy!" Hooch yelled. Half the class jumped, unlike Ron, who was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe, every time he tried to calm down Malfoy did something again. This was the best potions lesson he had ever had. Seamus fell off his seat trying to pull him back up and then Harry started laughing.

"Yes Miss?" Draco said calmly, he stuffed the note Harry had sent him into his trouser pocket. Seamus got off the floor and sat red faced back on his seat.

"Stand up." Draco stood up and then grinned at Hooch. "Malfoy, stop being an idiot! I thought that,"

"Malfoy, sit down, why thank you, Miss…" Draco ordered himself then sat down and the class sniggered under their breath.

"Malfoy stand up." Draco stood up again and looked very bored.

"Can I sit down now?"

"No, Malfoy, you are a muppet, now sit down." Draco sat down and started to write his reply to Harry.

Ron finally climbed back into his chair and Hooch looked confused because that seat had been empty a few moments ago. But still she continued to go over the procedure to the class. Draco wrote another note and threw it over to Harry. Harry had asked about what he thought Dumbledore wanted. But Draco didn't know.

"Madam Hooch, I have a problem." Draco said standing up.

"I know, it's known as Draco Malfoy," Hooch stared at him as if challenging him.

"Yes, I know I am a muppet, sit down, but no, Miss it's serious…"

"Okay, Malfoy, what is it this time?"

"I have a serious masturbation problem, I mean, I just can't help thinking of," Ron fell of the chair again and collapsed under the table, stuffing his cloak into face to muffle the laughter. What the hell was the deal with Ron? Pansy looked like she was going to be sick and Blaise looked at Draco very strangely, he didn't need those images of Draco in his head. It was permanently scarring.

"Sit down Malfoy, you have a detention."

"Arh, you don't want to give me a detention!"

"Yes I do Mr Malfoy."

"No you don't!"

"Yes I do."

"No you don't you just don't know it yet."

"No, actually, you're right, I don't want to give you a detention 50 points from Slytherin and, you have a referral to monitor your behavious. Just because I don't like you. I can see it now, Name: Draco Malfoy, Reason: Draco Malfoy." It seemed she was a little annoyed about the last Quidditch match still…

"Oh no!" Draco said in a high squeaky voice and then skipped up to her, kneeled on the floor and smiled up sweetly at her.

"Malfoy? What are you doing?" Ron sat back in his chair, laughing still to get a better look at what was going on.

"Hoochy baby, will you marry me?"

"What?"

"I love you, Professor. Will you help me polish my broom?" Draco stood up and wiggled his eyebrows and the entire class burst out laughing. Draco then jumped onto the table and started to belt out Whitney Houston's 'I will always love you' scarily enough, he could reach the notes easily.

"Mr Malfoy, would you like to go to the hospital wing?"

"No, I want to stay here with you…" He jumped off the table and grinned at her again. Draco then yawned and stretched his arms up in the air and then blatantly wrapped one around Hooch's shoulders. She looked disgusted and knocked Draco's arm off her shoulders. "That's it Malfoy. Outside!" She yelled at him.

"Owww, your hair smells pretty."

"OUTSIDE!"

"Fine, your grumpy, you've got PMS."

"OUT!"

* * *

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	25. The Little Steps Closer Part 1

Draco didn't really see a point in hanging around outside of the classroom and considering there were only about half an hour until next lesson, he decided to go to see Dumbledore now. He wouldn't admit it but he was kind of glad that Pansy had hit him with an extra cheering charm just for the pure fact that every time he had been into the Headmasters office this year, it had been over something chaotic.

And even though Draco wasn't religious, superstitious or in any way believe there was some force above them controlling their destiny; he couldn't help but walk all the way there with his fingers crossed. So Draco was walking through the corridors minding his own business when he was grabbed from behind and dragged into a classroom. He yelped and fell over backwards.

"What is the meaning of this?" He yelled, but he didn't sound very angry because the spell wouldn't let him be. Instead, he was starting to find it rather funny. And the more he thought about it as he lay on the cold ground staring at the ceiling, the funnier he found it. Someone had had the nerve, to pull him, Draco Malfoy, into an empty classroom. Probably to try and scare him into doing something, or to find something out. And, not only that, but they believed that he would co-operate. It was the funniest thing he had experienced all year. So approximately, 5 seconds after he yelled at his attacker, he burst out laughing, clutching his stomach and almost rolling on the floor.

"Erm…" Ginny Weasley stood looking extremely confused staring down at the Slytherin in front of her. "Malfoy?" He continued laughing. "OI!" She kicked him in his side and it immediately shut him up. For the first time he noticed who capturer was.

"Oh, it's you." He said standing up and wiping the tears from his eyes in an amused manor. He took another look at the Weaslette in front of him, all that red hair and all red faced and burst out laughing again. Ginny looked perplexed.

"What's so funny Malfoy? Have you gone mad?"

"Apparently so, Hooch just said that a minute ago."

"Hooch?"

"Yeah, she's my wife apparently." Draco's laughter died down but then he looked at Ginny again. "Oh my, god I can't breathe." he gasped out between his laughter.

"Malfoy! We need to talk." Ginny's serious tone just made him laugh harder and he fell back onto the floor. "What the fuck… I always knew there was something seriously wrong about this boy, he's mental." Ginny muttered and harshly grabbed his arm and yanked him up pushing him back into a chair. "Now listen here Malfoy, I want some answers."

"So go to the library." Ginny folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at his sarcasm. Draco tried not to smile, but he already had a huge grin on his face so it wasn't really working.

"What the hell have you done to Ron and Harry?" She yelled in his face. She looked completely desperate.

"Nothing, I haven't done-"

Ginny interrupted, her voice steadily getting louder. "Don't lie Malfoy, I've been trying to get their attention all year, and they're ignoring me pointedly. I always see them looking over to you and they aren't in Gryffindor tower!" Draco rolled his eyes and inspected his nails, a humoured smirk on his face.

"It's not my fault if your friends aren't talking to you."

"But it is! I've got something to tell them, but I'm starting to think they're in on it, what did you do to them? And where's Hermione and why is everyone disappearing?"

"What, you think I've got something to do with this?" Suddenly, everything wasn't as funny anymore; any trace of smile was gone at the mention of Hermione.

"Well, obviously you're the one behind all this, your father is always involved in something every year and this year I'm sure it's no different."

"My father?" Draco looked confused up at her. "Wait, I don't have to listen to this, I'm not sitting here and being accused of kidnapping Hermione and the Professors and I certainly don't have anything to do with why your precious friends aren't in the tower." Okay, so the last bit was a lie, but it gave his little speech a better effect. So with that, he pushed Ginny out the way and stormed out the classroom slamming the door.

The nerve of that girl, accusing him of doing that! As if, and his father certainly wasn't involved in any of this. Draco stopped walking, he had never told Lucius about his relationship with Hermione, and so he wouldn't know not to touch her. Draco shook off that thought; he'd been through this before. Severus was a very dear friend of his father's; he wouldn't be behind a plot to kidnap him. Or would he? He didn't know and he didn't have much time to think it over because soon he found himself outside the stone gargoyle. And surprisingly enough, it opened as soon as he stepped towards it; Dumbledore was expecting him after all. Draco walked up the stone steps and hesitated in front of the door, not sure whether to knock as there seemed to be voices coming from inside.

"Do enter, Mr Malfoy." Dumbledore's voice was heard easily through the door. Draco had never understood how that man always knew things like this, knowing when people were outside his doors, it was just creepy. Without out hesitation this time, Draco pushed open the door and wasn't surprised to see that Dumbledore wasn't alone.

As soon as he closed the door, bushy brown hair was shoved into his face as someone sobbed on his shoulder. He patted her shoulder comfortingly while giving Dumbledore a look that clearly said, 'Who the hell is this?'

"Come now Helena, get off the poor boy, you haven't even introduced yourself." A male voice came from over one of the chairs. The woman with brown fuzzy hair let go of Draco and he saw her for the first time. For a second he stopped breathing, Hermione looked exactly like her, the same complexion, nose, eye colour and bushy hair. There was no doubt that Hermione would look exactly like this when she was grown.

"You must be Mrs Granger." Draco voice cracked as he held out his hand to shake, Mr Granger stood up and shook it also. "Our daughter wrote to us often about you Draco, you have done a lot for our little girl." Draco hadn't even known they knew he existed, and as he looked at her parents he felt his eyes well up with tears. Mr Granger put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"We didn't mean to upset you Draco; we just wanted to speak to you, privately." He said glancing at the headmaster, who had suddenly become very interested in the paintwork.

"Oh me? Well, I was just leaving, going to make some tea, would you like any? No, thought not, I'll leave you three to chat then." Dumbledore closed the door behind him.

They all sat down, Draco taking the Headmasters seat so it was easier to talk to them. They both looked like they hadn't slept in weeks, Mrs Granger's cheeks were sunk in slightly, he remembered seeing them in Diagon Alley a few times, and she had not looked like that before. Mr Granger, he was a tall slender man. Wearing a brown jumper and black trousers, round glasses on his face gave him a very warm look. He was obviously a very affectionate man, and Draco would say he looked like a librarian if he didn't know he was a dentist. He looked like someone who buried himself under books, that much was obvious, that's where Hermione could have got her love of books from.

Draco looked down and twisted his pale hands together, he couldn't bear to look at them but he forced himself to. It was making the whole situation seem worse, the only time parents were allowed into Hogwarts was in very dire times, like for example, there child had… passed away. And the Grangers were muggles which would have made the rules stricter. Hermione was certainly not dead, she couldn't be, and she would have been found by now. Surely they didn't believe that she was? He looked up at them; they were sat awkwardly in the chairs looking very out of place. They were holding hands, and the look they were baring was undeniable, hope. And hopefully for Draco, they weren't here to accuse him of anything.

Ginny Weasley's accusation was still burning very fresh in his mind, what did people think of him? Okay yes, his family wasn't the nicest of people, but that came with status, every rich pureblood was like that. But it didn't mean they were a bunch of murderers. And so what, his dad was a deatheater? Everyone who was one had very good reason and Lucius Malfoy certainly did have a good reason to be one. But that didn't mean that Draco was going around and kidnapping everyone, especially Hermione.

"What is it you wanted to talk about Mr and Mrs Granger?" He asked sniffling slightly, Mrs Granger and Hermione's resemblance was uncanny, as was his own to his fathers. The Grangers looked up, Draco sympathised with them both for a moment, if he was going through hell being away from Hermione, where were they?

"Well, Draco, Hermione told us a lot about you, you're in Slytherin aren't you. We were told people in Slytherin are naturally… Ambitious and you're from a wealthy family so you would know quite a few people in…" He hesitated. "Higher society. You would have access to information people like us wouldn't."

"What my husband means to say Draco dear, we are but muggles. We cannot save our baby; she has been took by a force greater than our own. We are incapable of helping her." They stared at him for a moment and he resisting getting up and walking out the room. He was feeling intimidated by muggles. Draco wanted to scold himself for that, they were not any muggles, they were Hermione's parents. And if they were asking what he thought they were, why weren't they asking Potter?

"Are you asking me to find her?" Mr and Mrs Granger exchanged looks.

"Well yes, I know it's a lot to ask…"

Draco interrupted holding up a hand, his confidence returning. "I am already half way there sir, her friends and mine have been, without permission, creating a fool proof plan to save her, you will have her back soon. The map is finished by tonight."

"You, you already were…" Mrs Granger looked shocked.

"What you mean to say, is you already willingly are putting yourself into danger to save our daughter?" Mr Granger asked.

"All due respect sir; I don't know whether Hermione actually explained properly my relationship with her. We were courting sir, and I would do anything to get her back, including risk my life. There are another students helping me so it shouldn't TOO hard, I promise, I will get your daughter safely back to you if it's the last thing I do." The bell rang interrupting Draco's stream of speech. "I'm sorry, I have to go, is there anything else you wanted?"

Mr Granger picked a small cardboard box off the desk. "These are some Hermione's belongings she left at home this year. Could you give them to her when she gets back?" Draco took the tiny box unsurely and stared at the contents, there was nothing there he recognised. He looked a little confused at it.

"Oh, you can use them if you want. Hermione won't mind dear." Mrs Granger encouraged. "Help yourself; it's not as if you'll break anything. She's mentioned a few spell's she'd put on them." He didn't have a clue what the woman was talking about but just nodded anyway, he wanted to get to class.

"Thanks, and I'll write you on our progress, and please, do not mention this to the headmaster, he does not know of our plan." They both nodded.

"She was right about you all along Draco. When she was 12 years old she came home crying about the little boy who used to tease her, and never once did she have one bad thing to say about you. She has always known you are a good person, you just needed guiding a little, and you've grown into an amazing young man, you are perfect for our daughter. And despise the difference in our social status, which I know is important to you, I know you are meant to be." Draco breathed deeply and blinked the tears back.

"Thank you, it means a lot to me."

"We're here until this evening Draco, if you need anything, don't hesitate to visit."

"Thank you." He said before nodding to them both and walking back to Cronan tower. The first thing he did when he got there was take off his ring.

* * *

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	26. The Little Steps Closer Part 2

Draco walked up to care of magical creatures in a considerably better mood, the cheering charms hadn't let him stay upset for very long. Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise were already sat on the grass with an animal each when he arrived; he didn't have a clue what these bear-cub look-a-like creatures were, he was trying to figure out what the white thing in his hands did.

He sat on the grass and fiddled around with the shiny box for a minute, pulling the wires out then putting them back in. Pansy and everyone crowded around just as interested and curious as he was. Blaise tutted, continuing brushing the little cub. He too had no idea what it was but he didn't think it was wise sitting there.

"I wouldn't sit there if I was you." He had warned them earlier not to and Draco had just plopped right down in it.

"Why, Zabini? I'll sit wherever I want." Draco snarled, he was only playing but immediately he regretted not jumping to his feet earlier. His friends scattered away as they remembered what Blaise had said about 10 minutes ago.

"I'm just saying, watch the-"

"Arrhh!" Draco yelped wiping his bum and dancing around, dropping the metal box on the floor. Draco wriggled around screaming and scratching everywhere he could reach. "GET THEM OFF! I'M BEING EATEN ALIVE!" The whole class burst out laughing at Draco's antics again.

"Red ant's nest." Blaise finished, sighing, that boy was just so stupid.

Hagrid came running over at the sound of the screams. "Oh, it's you. Malfoy, calm down, they ain't gunna 'urt ya. They're only ants."

"THEY'RE RED! THEY'RE BITING ME!"

Ron, who Harry seriously thought had been hit with a cheering charm, was laughing until he couldn't breathe again. "Someone, gimme a camera, please! I'll pay you; he looks like he's dancing the funky chicken!"

_"Is anyone going to help me? S.O.S. please someone help me. It's not healthy... for me to feel this way Y.O.U. are making this hard, I can't take it, see it don't feel right. S.O.S. please someone help me! It's not healthy... for me to feel this way! Y.O.U. are making this hard-"_ Obviously, Draco was slightly stressed as he was trying to dance and sing, and get ants off him all at the same time. So he kind of looked like he was jumping in circles, twitching, with a look of pure terror on his face.

"Arhh!" Draco stripped off his jumper and started unbuttoning his shirt.

"WOW! MALFOY! What are ye doin?" Hagrid yelled. "Yeh can't be doin that?"

"Watch me!" And surely enough in front of all the class Draco stripped down until his black boxers and everyone could clearly see the amount of red ants crawling over him. Blaise grabbed him by the ear and dragged him crossly away from the class and to the lake. He waved to him sweetly a second before he pushed him in.

Draco rose to the surface and spat some water out his mouth. "Aww, my hero." He said sarcasm dripping from his voice. A flash made Draco almost sink back under the water, he looked to the left to see Harry holding the little white box he had been fascinated with earlier.

"Potter, did you just take a photo of me with that, that…"

"Phone." Harry finished for him.

"Phone?" Draco asked curiously.

"Phone, it's a mobile, a white Sony Ericson, where did you get it? Steal it?"

"Actually, yeah, fair and square so give it back." Draco climbed out of the water and tried to look threatening but it really wasn't working with a huge red rash all over him and sopping wet, covered in lake water, especially since he was only in his boxers.

Harry didn't reply to him, he simply made the phone flash again and Draco scowled before marching off, Goyle skittering after him with his clothes.

* * *

Harry knew the phone was Hermione's, he had gone through the contacts and it was mostly people he didn't know, but he had got to 'Harry Home' and 'The Burrow' so it was obvious it belonged to her. He was just wondering how Draco had got it. He wouldn't have taken it from any of her possessions, and he'd never even seen it before. It was fairly new and was packed with music, it all suited Hermione so perfectly. He would be sure to show Draco how it worked, he would love it. Well, as soon as he found out where he had got it. So instead of having a half an hour break in the hall, which was always available between 2nd and 3rd lessons, he went back to the Tower, where Draco obviously would be getting dressed. Ron still hadn't shut up about the ant incident and had decided to tag along.

"Oh Merlin, Malfoy's hilarious today." Ron said taking a bite of a sandwich he'd grabbed out the hall.

"Are you sure he's the only one with a cheering charm?" Harry asked side glancing at Ron, who flushed a little.

"What makes you say that?" Ron muttered swallowing thickly.

"Sure, we're friends with Malfoy now. But you've never found anything he's done funny before."

"Well, I guess I'm starting to see him in a new light. The guy's pretty decent."

"Yeah, if you're not on the receiving end of his ego."

"Exactly." Ron agreed. Harry rolled his eyes, oh well, it was better than Ron hating him.

"So, what's that box?" Ron said taking it off Harry. "What are these little wires?"

"They're head phones."

"HEAD phones? What on this earth do you mean?"

"Ron really, you won't get it."

"Okay, try me."

"Fine, it's a portable phone, which you can play games on, go on the internet, like a computer. And it has a built in camera and a music player, you put those things in your ears and music plays."

"Why do you put them in your ear? And how's it a camera, how do you develop anything?"

"Ron, just, be quiet." Harry said taking it back off him before he broke it.

"Yeah but…"

"I would love to have this conversation with you, but I want to find out where in the hell Draco got this. It's Hermione's and I've never seen it before. I don't even understand how it's working. Its muggle, the magic should be sending it haywire." Ron didn't know many things about muggle devices but he knew that much, magic broke muggle things like this. That's why muggleborns couldn't bring things to school.

"I've never seen it before; surely Hermione would have shown us."

"I know Ron, _slytherdor, _that's why I wanted to speak to Malfoy." The portrait opened a second later and revealed Draco lying on Hermione's bed hugging what appeared to be a teddy bear. Ron and Harry exchanged looks and walked cautiously over to Draco. They sat on Blaise and Harry's bed and Draco looked up, he didn't say anything but pulled his knee's up to his chest and held the bear tighter.

"You alright mate?" Ron asked, Draco had been bouncing around the school less than half an hour ago.

"Yeah, just miss her." He mumbled before covering his face with the bear.

"It'll be alright Dray, come on, I've got something to show you anyway." Draco peeked over the top of the bear at Harry who was waving the walkman phone at him. Draco's sat up and brushed his wet hair out his face. He had just got out of the shower and looked through the box, he'd found a few shrunken items, and this bear had smelled of her, so he'd got a little sad.

"What is it?" Harry smiled and sat down next to him. And for the next half an hour explained the muggle phone to him. After about twenty minutes Draco could use it and was just asking loads of questions about how it worked. Harry was no expert but had told him everything he knew.

Once Harry had taught Draco to use the phone and little history on it both of them were curious to why it was working and Harry had pointed out it hadn't lost any battery. They had both come to the conclusion this was Hermione's phone they were trying to decipher, it wouldn't work, that girl was a genius when it came to magic.

"I was wondering," Harry asked as the three of them walked out of their tower a little later. "Where did you get this?" Draco's face immediately fell into a pained expression.

"Her box." He answered after taking a deep breath. "Her parents gave it to me." Harry looked confused for a second but then decided not to push it as Draco seemed on the verge of tears.

"Oh, I did miss out one thing." He said remembering, he was trying to keep the blonde happy, and apparently his soul expression was becoming more powerful than the cheering charms. Draco was playing a game on it as they walked to herbology. "It plays music, that's what the wires are for. Here…" Harry took the phone off Draco and put the head phones in the others boys ears.

"What are you doing?" Draco tried to bat his hands away.

"No, trust me." Draco was waiting for something to happen, and then jumped at the sudden sound in his ear.

"ARRH! There's music in my head!" He yelled before snatching the phone back of Harry and flicking through the tracks.

"Talk about melodramatic!"

"This is amazing, muggles are so cool!" Draco practically sang. Ron almost walked into a bench.

* * *

As the last few minutes of Herbology ended, everyone thought Professor Sprout was going to start dancing she was so happy. The teachers weren't allowed to punish anyone with a soul expression and in the 6th year Herbology, five people had one and they were bouncing off each other's bad behaviour. Draco had took the dignity of playing air guitar with a plant, power sliding down one of the huge desks breaking all the plant pots. Harry had started crying because they were apparently hurting the plants and they were screaming for help, therefore he'd been sneaking around trying to steal everyone's plants and was discussing plans to ship them out of the country with Pansy who was starting to get really passionate about it. This of course had annoyed a few people, which had made Blaise defensive of Harry; this obviously got a few weird looks from everyone. So basically, it had been the funniest day so far in 6 years for Ron. Potions had been, just excruciatingly funny, Care of Magical Creatures had been mad and this lesson had been… Interesting. He just couldn't stop laughing today; he was in such a good mood!

That was until last minute when Pansy had been complaining to Draco how he was always mean to Ron, when Draco jumped up yelled across the greenhouse. _"HEY HEY YOU YOU I DON'T LIKE YOUR GIRLFRIEND! NO WAY NO WAY I THINK YOU NEED A NEW ONE!_" Ron had gone bright red and Pansy looked like a deer caught in headlights. The whole class put two and two together and was more shocked than anything else.

Ron stood up annoyed their secret had been revealed. "Oh... Burn in hell Malfoy." He spat Draco's last name but Draco didn't care. He just broke out into a really cheesy theatrical dance much to the enjoyment of Harry and Goyle, who seemed to recognise the song and dance.

_"I'll be fried and flambéed, baked and sautéed, steamed and stewed and barbecued and grilled and roasted, lightly toasted AND THEN THEN THEN!_" Draco did a fake drum roll on some upside down plant pots.

_"THEN FUCKED UP THE ARSE WITH BARBED WIRE!"_ Harry and Goyle yelled, both laughing. Until Harry realised that he had to save Draco from going to hell, he shook it off after arguing with himself out loud for about 2 minutes.

Thankfully, at that moment the bell rang and everyone gratefully left the greenhouses. Draco and company made their way up to the tower knowing Harry and Ron would be following them shortly, Pansy was refusing to speak to Draco even though he had tried to explain in was a soul expression, and therefore he couldn't help it. But she was having none of that, she was going to make him feel rotten, then she'd feel better. So Draco was having a hard time on the way up to the tower. So he shoved in the headphones and turned the volume to max, knowing Pansy had no clue he couldn't hear her rants.

Harry wasn't having much fun either, Ron hadn't shut up about how much he hated Draco yet. Thankfully for Harry, Ginny bumped into them, knocking all three of them to the floor. She was hoping it wasn't too obvious that she had done it on purpose.

"Ginny! You're so clumsy, watch where you're going!" Ron yelled standing up and holding out a hand to Harry.

"Oh, so you've noticed me know have you? I've been trying to talk to you for weeks now!" She hissed grabbing Harry's arm and leading them closer to the wall.

"Sorry Ginny, we've been… busy." Harry said looking down guiltily. He'd completely forgot about her, everyone had.

"I can tell, what the hell are you two playing at? For weeks I've been sending notes to you telling you to meet me. There's crazy stuff going on round here, Harry, you and Ron have been ignoring me!" An angry Weasley wasn't a pleasant one and Harry decided never to get on the bad side of Ron.

"I am here you know Ginny, don't talk about me as if I'm not." Ron snapped. She scoffed.

"Yeah and so have I been, what's going on with you two? You're never in the tower."

"Ginny, just stay out of trouble and keep yourself on a low profile, we don't want you to get hurt." Harry said, he was trying to walk away slowly while saying this. Another person couldn't get involved in this, it was dangerous.

"But Harry, Ron, I've noticed something, the Slytherins, they-"

"Gin, we don't want to hear it, go to lunch and just forget anything you've seen." Ron and Harry turned away and walked as fast as they could away from her. They both exchanged looks as they got around the first corner.

"What the hell was that about?" Ron said to Harry as quietly as possible. Everyone was at lunch, but there are ears everywhere.

"I have no idea, I can't help but want to know what she was going to say, but she's probably got her wires crossed." Ron looked confused. "I mean, her potions switched." Harry corrected. Ron nodded, after all they were fraternising with the enemy, all of them. And to be perfectly honest, Ron hadn't spoken to his sister since almost the beginning of the year. Come to think of it, Harry and himself had completely isolated themselves from the Gryffindors. They were… across enemy lines, almost… He suddenly felt a little guilty. Ron didn't noticed for about ten seconds that Harry had stopped walking, and when he finally did, Harry broke out into a sprint down the remainder of the corridor.

"Oi, WHAT YA DOIN'!" He yelled after Harry, shaking his head and tutting before he jogged down the corridor after him. When he got to the portrait he found it had been left ajar and he closed it properly behind him.

Harry was pushing the couches closer together in front of the fireplace. "Potter, what are you doing?" Draco was asking, he had refused to move off the couch and was being pushed closer to the table full of food as he spoke.

"We need to talk. All of us, Crabbe and Goyle com'ere and Pansy, where's Pansy?" He said ordering everyone around.

"Here!" Her voice called from the bathroom.

"Pansy, get out the shower! Have you got OCD or something?" Harry yelled crossly. Everyone scrambled to the sofas and Draco sat up. He leaned over the table and grabbed a plate.

"Hey? Is this vegetarian? Where's my food? Merlin, the house elves know I won't eat meat. First year was hell, I lived on potato-"

"Oh yeah, I remem-"

"MALFOY! Shut the fuck up, the lasagne is veggie." Draco actually felt hurt for a second and his best mate noticed. Blaise actually gave Harry a dirty look. Most times, he would have agreed with Harry, but Draco was only asking where his food was! Blaise stood up and sucked his teeth, everyone went quiet as a look of distaste covered his face as he stared at Harry. Harry turned around and suddenly felt a little intimidated; Blaise hadn't been in that stance since last year, especially directed at him.

"What?" He asked starting to get a little annoyed at him staring.

"Apologise." Draco avoided looking at the two; he served everyone's lunch for them. Dobby had started serving them lunch in the tower, they only had to request their dinner, as sometimes they went to the hall, other times they were too busy.

"W- what?" Harry was genuinely confused and a little scared. Blaise took a step closer.

"Apologise to Draco now. Stop being an arse and calm down as well while you're at it." Harry went to argue but Blaise held up a hand. "Okay, I understand you've got an expression and on top of that a hero complex but what happened to your expression being caring?" Harry looked a little hurt. "Draco won't admit it, but you just hurt his feelings. Now apologise and calm down. And don't yell at Pansy either, if she wants to shower three times a day, leave her to it. She was naturally hygienic before her expression; it's just made it a little worse. Don't yell at my friends Harry because they don't do it to you. If you're going to go back to how you used to be to them. We'll do the same to you. And we won't be the ones who are left hurt Harry. Apologise."

Harry folded his arms and refused to look at Blaise because there were tears in his eyes. "Oh," Blaise said. "You're going to be stubborn are you?" He raised an eyebrow. "Do you realise what's happening? You're letting the stress get the better of you." Blaise raised his wand and Harry took a step back eyes wide. Ron and Draco stood up to grab him.

"_Joyeusement." _Blaise said before putting his wand back in the case on his belt then glaring at Draco and Ron. "Come on, as if I'd actually hurt him, I'm in love with him for fucks sake." Draco and Ron sat down sighing with relief and grabbing their food again.

Harry was still staring at Blaise, still a little teary, but no longer stubborn or angry. "Come here Harry." Harry wiped his nose and walked over to Blaise and buried his face in the crook of his neck. He grabbed a firm hand around Harry's thigh before pulling up him and hugging him tight as Harry hooked his knees onto Blaise's hips. He pulled away and Blaise kissed him on the nose. "Go on, what have you got to say to Draco?" Harry leaned his chin on Blaise's shoulder and looked at Draco.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, Draco." He said in a slightly timid voice.

"It's fine Harry really, we all get a little stressed." Everyone nodded and Harry was surprised to see Pansy was sat on the couch toweling her hair, he hadn't even heard her come out of the bathroom.

"Good boy, Harry." Blaise said dropping his legs slowly.

"Love you." Harry sniffled, looking down a little guiltily.

"And I love you." Blaise kissed his lips softly and Harry sighed. Blaise grabbed his hand and lead his over to the sofa. "Didn't you want to speak to everyone?" Harry nodded and started talking to everyone as Blaise served him some lunch.

"I was wondering, when was the last time we had mail?" Everyone immediately stopped eating. And Draco went wide eyed.

"My mother hasn't written since I've been in the tower." Draco looked slightly horrified.

Ron nodded, "Mum always sends me a prophet, I completely forgot, I ain't been getting it."

"Same." Crabbe and Goyle agreed.

"The last piece of mail we had, had been from Lupin. I think our post is being withheld or intercepted."

"God, how didn't we notice?" Draco said still a little wide eyed.

"I wouldn't have figured it out if it wasn't for Ginny, she-"

"Weasley." Draco snarled. "She attacked me this morning, accused me and my dad of the kidnappings."

"Really?"

Draco nodded, "I fell on the floor and everything but I think I scared her a little because it was just after potions and I burst out laughing in her face because, dunno, it was just funny."

"You got attacked and you laughed."

"It was hardly an attack-"

"Guys! Anyway," Harry redirected the attention to him. "Ginny said she'd been sending me and Ron notes for weeks telling us to meet her but obviously we didn't get them."

"This is getting stupid and far too serious for us six to be handling." Goyle said, suddenly not very hungry anymore. No-one answered but they all knew it was true. They shouldn't be handling it on their own. Harry and Ron disagreed with the Slytherins.

"Guys, we can't give up. It will be alright, honestly. You'll be surprised what we can do."

"Yeah you will, seriously, Harry kind of rubs off on you." Ron explained. "I mean, I'm a Weasley I'm no-one important and I've faced a ten foot spider and helped save the philosophers stone and been inside the Chamber of Secrets." Ron pointed out.

"Well, if Weasley can do it, then we'll be pro." Crabbe said smiling, he was only joking after all. But it left everyone reassured.

* * *

"Grilled & Roasted" is a song from Jerry Springer the Opera written by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee. 'Girlfriend" is by Canadian singer/songwriter Avril Lavigne and and Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald, from her Album "The Best Damn Thing". "SOS" is sang by Rihanna.

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	27. The Little Steps Closer Part 3

The six ended up leaving the tower around five minutes after the bell went, so they were in a bit of a hurry to get to lessons. They had transfiguration but seems McGonagall was still missing there would be a cover; Draco was hoping it wouldn't be Hooch but as they strolled into the class ten minutes late they were all horrified to see Lucius Malfoy writing something on the board with his wand and the class taking notes.

He turned and sneered and looked like he was going to say something but motioned for them to take a seat, when he spotted his son was in the crowd, he called him to the front. "Draco, why are you late?" He asked, dropping his wand.

"I'm sorry, father." Draco said bowing his head and standing perfectly still before his father. Ron took his seat muttering about purebloods being 'nutters', and then about 'deatheaters working in the school', Harry tutted and couldn't help but wonder why he was here. But he figured it was because they were short on staff and he was a governor after all. At muggle schools, governors were really important, they decided about punishments and curriculum, when he thought about it, it wasn't strange he was here, there were probably a few more wondering around.

Lucius nodded his head and Draco stood up straight. "You shall be punished for your tardiness when you return home for Christmas." Draco nodded.

"Thank you, father."

"Did he just thank him for being punished?" Harry whispered, looking dumbfounded.

"Of course, it's Malfoy, he worships his dad. 'Draco, why don't you go _Avada _yourself? It's for our cause, purebloods all the way! Yipee!'" Ron said holding up his quill and 'talk' to his pencil, doing a perfect impression of Lucius but in a high squeaky voice. "'Oh, okay father! Thank you for this opportunity!'" Harry laughed at Ron but soon realised the whole class was staring at them, including Lucius. Ron looked sheepish and said, "Soul expression?" A few people giggled and Lucius rolled his eyes.

"Just get on with the work, Weasley…"

Surprising, Harry and Ron really enjoyed Lucius' lesson, he was actually a really good teacher as his method was easy to follow. They both remembered to try a keep an open mind because it was Draco's dad. At the end of the class, he informed them he would be stay until a proper replacement could be found. He explained Dumbledore was short on staff and he had volunteered to teach because he had a diploma in transfiguration and to bear with him because he wasn't used to teaching.

Lucius teaching was kind of like Snape, he just got on with it. He hated people slacking off, but he wasn't biased, he didn't seem to punish anyone or hate the Gryffindors anymore than he did the Slytherins. So basically he was like a nice Snape, except not greasy.

Ron and Harry kept getting the giggles in lesson when watching Lucius and they could feel Draco's death glares burning into the side of their heads. Half way through the lesson, when they were supposed to be transfiguring mice into different colours; Ron had found it hilarious when Lucius was sat at the desk and kept blowing his hair of out his face; it had got really long and was almost near his waist. Then Ron had turned around sniggering to himself as Lucius had flicked his wrist and a red ribbon that had been tied to it came loose, he stood up and flicked his head upside down and grabbed all his hair and scooped it on his head trying to tie it in a pony tail. Now, Harry at first didn't realise why Ron found this funny, he'd seen girls do it loads of times. But then he realised, it was making Lucius look like a girl, all that long blond straight hair and a pretty red ribbon and he too laughed.

"Oh, ha-ha." Draco said from across the room sneering at them.

"Hahahaha!" Harry and Ron started laughing again and Draco stuck his nose up and ignored them.

After Lucius dismissed the class Draco tagged behind to speak to his dad, he might as well take advantage of this situation. He stood in front of the desk waiting patiently for his father to acknowledge his presence. He didn't wait long, because after about a minute, Lucius placed the quill on the desk and put the lid back on the ink.

"Please, sit down, Draco." Draco nodded in thanks and took a seat. "Is there any particular reason you are not on your way to your next lesson?"

"I have a free period; this was my last lesson father." Lucius nodded satisfied with the answer. He had been annoyed his son was slacking, he shouldn't be late for lessons, but as he looked at him he realised he had bags under his eyes and his hair hadn't been styled. A concerned look flittered over his face and he leaned his chin on his fist.

"What's wrong? How are you? You don't look well Draco. Are you having problems? Being bullied, ill? Finding your work too hard?"

"Father, calm down, you'll get frown lines." Lucius sighed and nodded blinking a few times before putting on a neutral expression. He waited for Draco to reply.

"I'm not doing well father. I don't know whether you've been informed but, actually…" Draco paused and sat up straighter. "I was wondering, do you have anything to do with, these missing people?" Lucius shook his head 'no' and leaned his hand back on his chin.

"What do you mean no? You must know something…" Draco pressed. Lucius looked a little confused.

"Noo…" He said slowly. "I don't, why are you asking? The first I heard of them was a few days ago when Dumbledore owled and asked me if I was available to teach. How long have they been gone?"

"I don't really remember, a few weeks, three at most. This year's been chaotic father, I'm so stressed. I've got a soul expression; Blaise put the spell and potion on me. And it backfired and loads of people got hit by the spell, then a week later everyone's food got spiked with potion by someone, but we don't know who! Oh yeah, and I was attacked and someone put a LUST POTION into my lungs, I inhaled it and everything! And then I practically sexually assaulted Professor Snape! The whole school is in chaos and Severus was trying to figure it out but then he went missing. Do you know anything about them?"

"Blaise Zabini put an expression on you?" Lucius was still processing that part. "Are you sure? That boy can't do potions to save his life." Draco sat and thought about it.

"Well, I guess he must have done it, who else would do it? It is supposed to be 15 times stronger I feel everything, but it's only 14." Lucius looked awkward for a moment. "Why do you ask?" Draco was now suspicious.

"It was just weird, that's all Draco." he took a deep soothing breath, it was a lot of information to process. "So, you're just stressed, how are you sleeping?"

"Fine." Draco lied; he said it a little coldly.

"Draco, I swear I don't have anything to do with Severus going missing. I was really shocked, and the Dark Lord hasn't mentioned him missing, I'm not sure if he even has noticed!"

"Wait what? That's because it's him that kidnapped him!"

"No, Draco, listen to me." Lucius grabbed both of Draco's hands and looked straight into his eyes. "If Snape is missing, it isn't to do with the Dark Lord; we have had no assignments to do with kidnappings. I have no-one in my dungeon and you know that's where most of them go. Whoever is doing this Draco, it isn't deatheaters."

Draco's eyes welled up with tears. "Why are you lying?"

"Draco, when have I ever lied to YOU?" Draco looked down at their connected hands.

"Never." He sniffled.

"Stop snivelling boy!" Lucius snapped. "It won't help and that's just answered your question. I'm not lying, it's not deatheaters. So don't think for a moment you're safe, it's outside my power, I'm so… Where's your ring?" Draco snatched his hand back as if Lucius' touch had suddenly burned.

Lucius narrowed his eyes and whipped out his wand grabbing Draco by the neck and pushing him back into the chair. Draco's hands went to Lucius' wrist so he couldn't press any harder. His father pressed his wand onto the bottom of Draco's stomach and muttered a Latin spell. His wand glowed blue and Lucius released his neck very slowly and pressed a kiss to his son's forehead. "I apologise, I made a mistake son." Lucius placed his wand on the table and then wiped the tears from Draco's face. "Am I forgiven?"

Draco bit his lip. "Yes, of course father." He couldn't believe his dad had just done that, he had just verified for himself whether or not his son was a virgin. Although, Draco had bought it on himself, he knew that. Parents only did that spell before and after a wedding night; Lucius had just broke a privacy law.

"I would like to inquire why you removed your ring."

"I showered at lunch and I was late father, I forgot to put it on. I'm sorry." Draco could tell his father felt guilty over his lie. He almost smirked inside if it wasn't the lack of trust gnawing at his mind. His own dad didn't trust him; then again, did he deserve to be trusted? No. He was courting a mud… muggleborn. It was against regulation for him to date anyone let alone someone unpure.

"I apologise, again Draco." Lucius kissed him on the head, which was a sign of respect, apology and affection in their family. Draco smiled at him.

"It's fine; I would have done the same thing to my son." Draco lied again. 'Oh Draco, when will you stop lying to yourself and everyone around you?' The Blaise voice was back in his head, stupid conscience…

They sat in silence for a while.

"Draco, do you know why there are muggles in the office?" Lucius screwed up his face in distaste and Draco could see himself doing it. He screwed up nose up like that, and he looked exactly like his father. Would he be there in twenty years?

"They're Hermione Grangers parent's father." he answered not interested at all, the conversation was getting worse every second.

"They're revolting aren't they Draco, it makes my skin crawl." Lucius shuddered and conjured up some tea.

"Yes father, positively disgusting." Draco said leaning on his hands and staring at the window, his spirits spiraling into the ground; Draco's cheering spell blinked out leaving him utterly alone in the classroom. Leaving him to sing inside his head as his father droned on. _'In our family portrait, we look pretty happy, let's play pretend, and act like it comes naturally. In our family portrait, we look pretty happy, let's play pretend, just act like it comes naturally.'_

* * *

"Family Portrait" is an R&B song written by Pink and Scott Storch for Pink's second album "Missundaztood" (2001)

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge . This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	28. The Little Steps Closer Part 4

Everyone had expected Draco to be back at the tower before dinner but it got to 7 o'clock and he wasn't in the hall or in the tower. No-one had seen him since transfiguration and they were all starting to get a little worried. They all ate dinner in the tower and tried to find him on the Marauders map. They had found his dot but it kept flickering and the name kept changing from 'Malfoy' to 'Draco Malfoy' to just 'Draco' and he seemed to be wondering around in a place that wasn't marked on the map because he kept walked off the edge, so he was either in a unmapped place in the castle or outside. But everyone doubted he'd be outside because it was snowing.

"Why do you think his names blinking?"

"No idea."

"I have a vague idea." Blaise said sipping his drink. "It might be something to do with him doubting who he is. Like he doesn't want to be who he is anymore, or maybe, maybe he doesn't want to be a Malfoy?"

"Why wouldn't he want to be a Malfoy?" Ron asked yawning. "I mean, Malfoy's have got it made."

"That might be the problem." Blaise whispered, playing with the ring he'd picked up off the side and staring at his empty finger. It was that time already, he was sure. And this ring wasn't his.

* * *

It got to 11pm and everyone had fallen asleep on the couches waiting for him. Unknown to them, Draco had spent the last half an hour outside the portrait trying to gain access because in his current state he couldn't pronounce _Slytherdor. _Eventually, he had woken the lazy dragon in the portrait and it had let him in, if he promised not to wake him up again; otherwise it had threatened to change the password without him knowing.

Draco stumbled through the portrait and fell flat on his face, he groaned. The bang was enough to wake everyone up, sharply. They all untangled themselves and ran to him. "What the hell are you playing at?"

Draco was laying face down in the floor soaking wet and covered in snow. He was shaking slightly and his skin was a shiny red from the cold. And, much to the surprise of everyone, he absolutely stunk of fire whisky.

"_I miss you! I miss you so bad..."_ he sang drunkenly, pausing slightly and looking like he was going to throw up. "_I don't forget you!"_ He exclaimed to everyone trying to stand up, but he just collapsed back onto the floor. _"Oh it's so sad."_ He said rather than sang into the floor.

Everyone gathered around him concerned. Pansy looked infuriated, Blaise disappointed, Crabbe looked confused, Goyle looked sympathetic, Ron had grabbed Hermione's phone and was recording him and Harry looked like he was about to cry.

"_I hope you can hear me! I remember it clearly! The day, you slipped away! Was the day, I found it won't be the same! Ohhhhh…"_ Well, Draco could certainly sing when he was sober but after that much alcohol he sounded like a dying cat. "Oh I don't feel so good." Draco clamped a hand over his mouth and gripped his stomach.

"Malfoy? Are you drunk?" Pansy scolded him, just finding her voice.

"Definitely, it feels like I've been raped by the knight bus." Draco confirmed before bending over and puking on the floor. Pansy shuddered and turned away and Blaise immediately vanished it and then used a cleansing spell on the floor. Harry pushed away those horrifying images of the knight bus and Draco being sick and pulled him to his feet with Goyle.

"Draco, mate, what's the matter then? Come talk to us?" Ron looked questionly at Blaise.

"He gets drunk when he's really upset." Blaise whispered, still looking really disappointed in his friend.

"Ouch, don't shout." Draco said trying to bat Harry and Goyle away. They both let go as he bolted for the bathroom emptying the rest of the whiskey out the system. Pansy cringed and scratched her head exasperated, her blonde hair sticking up everywhere and her eyes still half closed from sleep.

"I can't believe him, I really can't." Blaise muttered, still looking really unhappy with his best friend. He walked into the bathroom and sat on the edge of the tub beside Draco, closing his eyes every time he heard the boy heave.

Blaise brushed Draco's hair out of his face and kissed him on top of the head. "What am I going to do with you Dray? You broke your promise." He mumbled into his hair.

"You better have a real good reason, or I'm not speaking to you."

"Oh Blaise, don't leave me! You're my best friend! I love you!" Draco started sobbing over the toilet, Blaise just shook his head, he looked so pathetic. Blaise went to walk out the room and let someone else look after him, but as he did he dropped something on the floor and it sounded like a falling knut. He turned around to see Draco's ring on the floor, he picked it up examining it. He'd been playing with it earlier. He slipped it back in his pocket and bent down to Draco's eye level. He was still sobbing.

"I'll forgive you this once." Draco looked up. "But only this time, okay?" Draco nodded sniffling.

"I'm cold." He whispered looking up to his friend as if he didn't understand why he would be. Blaise smiled sadly and took off Draco's travelling cloak.

"Come on Dray; let's get you to bed okay?" Blaise tried to pick Draco up but he just collapsed back against the toilet. "Goyle! Or Crabbe, anyone, come pick Draco up!" He yelled out the bathroom. Draco smacked him.

"You fucker, headache." Draco scowled.

Goyle picked his friend up easily and sat him on the bed. Draco fumbled with his tie, but Goyle batted his hands away and took it off, then started to unbutton his shirt.

"You know fucking what Goyle?"

"What's that Draco?"

"I'm not just saying this because I'm pissed, but I fucking love you."

"Yeah, I know mate."

"And I love Hermione too." Draco then burst out crying. "AND FUCKING VOLDEMORT!" he screeched picking up a book and throwing it against the wall. "Who is it? Who is doing it? I don't get it Goyle. I was so sure it was Voldemort."

"What is You-Know-Who?" Goyle pulled Draco's pyjama top on over his head.

"But it isn't Goyle. We were wrong. It's all LIES!" Everyone gathered around Draco, it was painfully obvious that he had found something out.

"What didn't Voldemort do, Draco?" Harry sat down next to him and Draco flopped his head onto his shoulder.

Goyle tried to unclasp Draco's belt but he jumped. "What ya doin'? I don't like boys' thanks." Ron would have laughed but seeing Draco Malfoy in a state like this just wasn't very nice.

"Draco I'm putting on your night clothes."

"Oh."

Silence.

"Goyle, what you doing? I just said I'm not gay; I can't have sex with you! I'm Hermione's." Here he started crying again. "I lied, married, in the 10 week holiday. Married at my birthday, what a bastard." He muttered. "Oh and Hermione! Her parents, they're wonderful." He sobbed quietly to himself, his shoulders shaking. Harry put an arm around him.

"What's he talking about?" Ron said.

"The Grangers were here today, they wanted to speak to him. That's why I blasted him with another charm. And it seemed Lucius has started talking about his marriage already." Pansy looked like she was dead on her feet but she was determined to stay awake.

"Marriage?" Harry rolled his eyes at Ron's ignorance.

"Arranged marriages, we all have them stupid."

"Oh, yeah."

"So, what do we do now then?" Harry asked as Draco groaned then fell asleep almost falling off the bed but Goyle and Harry caught him just in time.

"Not really much we can do." Pansy muttered climbing into bed. "I mean, just let him sleep that off and we'll have to sort it another day." She yawned. "He'll tell us about the Voldy thing in the morning. So we should sleep." Everyone nodded, most still half asleep and they all walked to their beds. Leaving Harry sat on Draco's bed. He smiled sadly down at him and picked up the teddy bear that was inside the box on the floor, placing under Draco's arm he felt better as he got into bed and watched the boy snuggle into it a moment later.

* * *

"Slipped Away" is by once again Avril Lavigne.

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge . This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	29. The Little Steps Closer Part 5

Unsurprisingly, Draco wasn't in the best of moods in the morning but after a few cheering charms, headache potions and reassuring words from his friends he felt a lot better and the day passed without incident. They didn't mention the marriage issue that Draco had bought up last night, but decided to wait until he was ready to talk about it. Though they did immediately did ask about the Voldemort thing.

Draco had told them over breakfast in the tower all about his conversation with his father and how he was positive the deatheaters weren't behind it. This left everyone completely lost for theories. There was no point going to Malfoy Manor because they now knew they weren't there, but they decided to check at Snape Manor seems they had went to so much effort anyway. And Snape was bound to have a book on soul expressions.

The friends really didn't speak to each other in the first part of the day. And when it got to lunch, only Draco and Harry turned up in the tower. Ginny had pounced her brother in the corridor, then _'pertrificus totalus'_ed him so he would listen to what she had to say. Pansy had detention with Professor Malfoy because she and Draco had sung 'Hey big Spender' to him in Transfiguration, and of course, Pansy's expression wasn't singing so she got in trouble. Crabbe and Goyle had gone down to the Slytherin dorms to pick up their potions ingredients so they could make some more energy potions, but they had been gone for 20 minutes. This left Harry and Draco curious to why everyone was taking so long. No-one had seen Blaise all day but he often wandered off by himself doing God-knows-what.

They were sat on the couch, pointedly ignoring the completed map of Snape Manor that was on the fire place behind a photo of Blaise and Pansy with their tongues stuck out.

"Do you think it's really finished?" Draco asked as casually as possible.

"Oh yeah, I mean, maybe we should like check if it is."

"Yeah, just to save everyone else doing it." Harry and Draco looked at each other both plotting then ran to the map and plucked it off the mantelpiece.

"Yeah, I think it is." Harry nodded and they both looked at each other slowly. Draco picked up the silver envelope.

"Yeah, look there's hardly any of the powder left, maybe we should just go. Save Lupin a few galleons." Draco said slowly, staring pointedly at Harry; only one thing on his mind, saving Hermione and Snape.

"Oh yeah, good deed of the day." Harry nodded slowly at him. They both climbed inside the fireplace.

"Yeah, I mean… Pansy and that wouldn't want to come anyway." Draco said licking his lips and feeling a little guilty.

"No, not really there thing is it?"

"No…"

Silence.

"So, should we go then?" Harry asked taking a handful of floo powder. Draco nodded and grabbed a handful of the powder and pocketed the rest. "You got the map?" Harry nodded.

"And wands." Both their hands went instinctively to their waists.

"We should go now. I think that would be the best thing to do. Saves dragging everyone else with us doesn't it?" Harry didn't give Draco the option because at that moment he threw the powder into the ashes and Draco followed shouting 'SNAPE RESIDENCE' after.

When they arrived, they both tumbled out and was slightly horrified to see the fireplace that they had used was actually in use so the bottom of their trousers set on fire and half the map got singed.

"What a waste of time!" Harry fumed over the map. "It's cut off the second floor."

"Where are we now?"

"Second floor." Draco sighed, taking the map.

"And were not labeled. Shit. We missed something." His eyes scanned the map. "Maybe we should just go…"

"We're here, don't chicken out. We might find something." Harry hissed at him. "We just need to get Crookshanks and search the house for deatheaters. I don't think there here, there are not enough dots. That's if, we are dealing with deatheaters."

"I know, but either that or they are all on this floor."

"Don't be morbid. Let's go." Harry tip toed to the door wand raised and put his ear against it.

"Do you hear anything?" he whispered to Draco who had also pressed his ear against the door.

"No, but we really should have researched some spells before doing this." He complained. Harry nodded.

Draco carefully twisted the handle and pulled open the door enough for them to slip through, thankfully, the hall was empty. They practically sneaked against the wall, wands still raised. The map was useless on this floor.

As they walked around the corner cautiously, little did they know that someone else was coming around the corner wand raised as well. And as they turned it, the three off them bumped into each other.

"ARHHHH!"

"ARRHHH!"

"AARRHHHHHH!"

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!"

"SNAPE!"

"Malfoy?"

"SNAPE?"

"Potter?" Snape said in confusion and disgust, it was an interesting facial expression.

"MALFOY!" Harry yelled. " I thought he was missing?"

"Missing! I'm not missing and why are we yelling?" Snape screamed.

"Calm down I don't know!" Draco was still staring shocked at Snape before he too, raised his wand.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Harry bellowed disarming Snape then snapping his wand.

"POTTER! YOU'RE PAYING FOR THAT!"

"Shut it Snape, if that's who you really are." Draco said ramming his wand into Snape's chest.

"Oh my lord, the world is officially insane."

"Answer me! I've got a wand and I'm not afraid to use it!"

"Draco, calm down, Potter, lower your wand."

"Tell him to lower his wand!"

"Draco lower your wand."

"No. Prove you're not an impostor?"

"I'm in my house with my wife and children Draco, they too, happen to have the last name Snape, maybe that might give you a clue?"

"But you got kidnapped!"

"Draco, I don't have time for your games, what is it that you want? Do you need help with your soul expression, have you established what you need to do?"

"Oh my god, it was you!"

"What was me? What are you accusing me of now? Taking time off work, because I did say I was going to!"

"YOU IMPOSTER! YOUR NOT SNAPE, SNAPE GOT KIDNAPPED WITH HERMIONE AND MCGONNAGOL!"

"Yes I am!"

"PROVE IT!"

"Erm, I'm Severus Acayon Snape, son of…"

"That's all bullshit, tell me something only we would know. You can get that out of books!"

"Draco lower your wand or I'll hurt you. Your scaring my children, the alarm went off."

"But you're not Snape, what are you doing with his kids? PHEODOPHILE!" Snape looked disgusted.

"That is wrong on so many levels, I can't believe you just said that."

"YOU'RE NOT SNAPE, PROVE IT! YOU'RE KIDNAPPED! I'M GOING TO SAVE YOU!"

"Draco, I didn't get kidnapped I'm right here, you assaulted me, I came home and I never left, I sent you a letter explaining I would be here a few months and that I was still helping. Then you wrote back saying that was fine, and I haven't spoke to you since, but that doesn't mean I've been kidnapped."

"You liar!"

"I'm not lying, I don't lie I simply rearrange the truth."

"Well, stop doing that then."

"I'M NOT, DRACONIS WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS ANYWAY? YOU CAN'T BARGE INTO MY HOME AND SCARE MY KIDS LIKE THAT AND-"

"No, seriously prove you're Snape or we'll kill you!" Harry dropped his wand a little and gave Draco a questioning look.

"No you won't." Snape tutted, folding his arms and taking a step closer.

"No, I won't, but Potter will." Harry nodded and shrugged raising his wand again. Snape immediately took a step back and held out his hands defensively, just before a cruel smirk crept onto his face.

"So, I tell you something that no-one else but you and I would know and you will believe me." Draco nodded. "Okay fine Draco, but don't say I didn't warn you… You used to wet the bed."

Silence.

"HE'S AN IMPOSTOR KILL HIM KILL HIM!"

"You liar."

"I'm not lying I'm rearranging the truth!"

"Draco shut up and tell me why you've broke into my house with Potter of all people!"

* * *

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge . This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	30. Of Clipboards and Ninja Attacks

_Reality is my fantasy,_

_My distant sort of dream,_

_Because fate seems to outrun me,_

_Leaving me tattered at the seams._

_My embroidery is broken_

_I__'__m a faded bloody stain,_

_The haunting memories of this heartbreak,_

_How his shattered soul remains._

_I need a kind being,_

_To sit and sew my life,_

_But the thread is all knotted,_

_Leaving me in agony and strife._

_And people tend to judge me,_

_Because I__'__m not as neat as them,_

_And although my thread is new,_

_It looks rotten, dirty, dead. _

_My pretty blue is grey now,_

_And my gold has turned to black ,_

_My cotton heart is ripped and frayed,_

_Free will is what I lack._

_I__'__m controlled by that needle,_

_That evil metal rod,_

_Stabbing, pricking, bleeding,_

_And I look up to my God,_

_Why do you do this?_

_I__'__m a tapestry that__'__s ugly_

_He answers me kindly,_

_As in horrible or lovely?_

_You see beauty is not everything,_

_You are pretty too,_

_Everyone has snags and frays,_

_And some greys turn back to blue,_

_You shouldn__'__t feel different,_

_The needle is you__'__re friend,_

_It guides you through your life,_

_And when it stabs it mends._

Hermione looked up from her book; she had quite a collection of poems now. She would sit for hours and stare at something and her hands would do all the work for her, the parade of emotions sweeping through her while she thought deeply about it.

She had been feeling really down today, not only was she scared, wallowing in pity that she was being held against her will, missing Draco and her family but she was also scared out of her mind because she had woke this morning to find a beautiful red dress at the bottom of her bed with a simple note pinned to it that read: '_Dinner_.'

Of course, she hadn't even touched it, she'd left it there and tried her best to ignore it. But no matter what she did she couldn't help but look at the dress even if she wasn't facing it, she'd turn and steal a glance at it. It kept reminding her of her impending doom that evening. Theo had said she was having dinner with _Him_. She shuddered at the thought.

* * *

"Oh my GAWD!" Harry screamed jumping up from the table and tugging on his hair. Snape and Draco looked up from their coffee highly alarmed at his behaviour.

"Potter, what the hell is wrong with you?" Snape spat at him, after all he wasn't very happy with him at the moment. Harry ignored that Snape had asked him a question and started pulling loads of things out of Snape's kitchen cupboards, pots and pans skidding across the floors.

"Well, whatever it is, it isn't in my cupboards Potter; now scram!"

"Oh, where did I put it?" Harry yelled then proceeded to run out the kitchen and down the corridor screaming the whole way.

"Is he gunna be alright?" Draco asked Snape, listening to something crash in the hallway.

Snape sighed, "Probably not, that boy has never been right in the head."

_SMASH!_

Snape's eyes went wide. "POTTER!" He scrambled out his seat and left Draco sat staring at where he had just been, feeling very confused.

"BUT THE CLIPBOARD!" Echoed through the house, Draco banged his head on the table, repeatedly.

* * *

Draco, after running around the house for the past twenty minutes, had managed to ninja attack Harry from behind, (forgetting he was indeed a wizard and not a ninja) and tied him to a chair in the library. This resulted in three things, one, Harry knocking down almost all the bookshelves in the room. Two, Snape trying to break down the door to see what else they was destroying in his house; and three, Draco getting a nose bleed; Draco was not a happy.

"Please, now seriously, Potter, calm down." Harry looked up at him angrily as Draco held tissue to his nose.

"Calm down, CALM DOWN? You expect me to calm down when I'm in a situation like this?" He yelled spitting in Draco's face as he was sitting on the desk directly in front of him, this was a regretful decision on Draco's behalf. The Slytherin cringed and then breathed deeply before trying to talk to his friend.

"Like what?" He asked calmly, a smirk rose slyly onto the corner of his mouth. "I do mean, of course, apart from you being tied to that chair."

"THE CLIPBOARD!"

"What clipboard? I'm going to throttle you if you don't stop! I'm at my wits end with you, okay, I understand the hero complex and the BLOODY caring soul expression, but you're driving me insane!"

"But it had... Everything..." Harry finished hopelessly. Draco picked up a newspaper from the desk and skimmed the front page.

"Draco! Help me find the…"

"Now POTTER! Don't make me wrap this paper up and smack you on the nose with it like a bad little dog!"

"But-" Harry tried to interrupt, he failed.

"Don't push me! I will do it!"

"DRACO!" Harry whined.

"Potter, by God, do not push me!" he held up the paper threateningly. "I AM A MAN ON THE EGDE!"

"DRACO, I WROTE OUR PLAN ON A CLIPBOARD NOW I'VE LOST IT! WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WE HAVE TO…"

SMACK!

"Ouch! Now what was that for?" Draco hadn't hit him on the nose but on the head, causing Harry's glasses to fall off.

"I think you should calm the hell down! This isn't helping anything. We need to figure out where everyone is and get them out! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOU WAFFLING ON ABOUT A CLIPBOARD WHEN MY GIRLFRIEND IS BEING HELD CAPTIVE!"

"Alright... Gay."

"You're so frustrating!" Draco screamed before pacing backwards and forwards, Harry followed his movements with his eyes and he felt like he was watching a game of tennis they were moving so fast.

"Malfoy, just calm down and untie me, then we can find the clipboard and everything will be better!" Harry had thought it sounded like a good plan but obviously Draco didn't as he screamed in frustration and banged his fists on Snape's desk and making Harry jump in shock.

"_My fingertips are holding onto the…"_

"Oh god, here we go!" Harry sighed as he watched Draco sing to himself.

"_And every time that we fight I know it's not right_!" Draco said grabbing Harry by the collar.

"Air please, Draco!" Harry coughed, staring scared at Draco's shaking hands he tried to get him off.

"_Every time that your upset and I smile, I know I should forget but I…"_

"Erg, douche bag." Harry gasped. Draco's eyes dilated back to normal.

"Potter, did you just call me a …. douche bag, you do understand what that is." Draco looked disgusted.

"Of course I do, and you're the world's biggest one!"

"Alright Potter, that's it!" Draco then jumped on Harry smashing the chair and falling on top of him violently, Harry gasped as the air was knocked out of him and then to his surprised he was laughing! Harder than he had laughed in a while and he was squirming! Was Draco… tickling him? …

* * *

Snape really couldn't understand what was happening in his study, he kept hearing yelling, then laughing and things breaking, he was worried. Well, whatever they were doing they better hurry up because time was ticking away and they were acting like children! He needed a plan, a plan more cunning than he had ever came up with before, and for it he would need a broom, a net and vast quantities of jelly tots. Snape snickered to himself. He would get his revenge for Potter breaking that vase! And he would get it tonight.

* * *

"Foundations" is by Kate Nash.

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge . This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	31. Holding Out for a Hero

"That's it! I'm leaving!"

"No, Draco! Wait!"

Unsurprisingly Harry and Draco were still fighting in the study too wrapped up in their own silly soul expressions to realise how vital these final hours were to be for them. But for now they had a lot to get out of their system so until then they were blissfully unaware.

Harry was still tied to what was left of the chair and was jumping shakily trying to get across the study to Draco, who was shifting things from in front of the door. A bookcase had fallen down in front of it and its contents were sprawled across the floor, so he was quite unsuccessful. Giving up he turned around to confront Harry.

"I know I am not wanted in this cruel world…" he spoke solemnly, looking down at the floor. "No!" He yelled suddenly holding his hand out in front of him, as if he was telling Harry to stop.

He reminded Harry of a traffic controller standing there all stiff with his hand in front of him, now if he only just had a whistle then it would be perfect. He tried not to giggle at his inner thought; he knew Draco would be mad at him.

"It's okay, don't beg," Draco continued, his hand from in front of him now, it was placed over his heart instead. Harry bit his lip trying to hold it back. Still shuffling closer in his 'chair'.

"I'll be fine, I will have to fend for myself in this cold, dark world, even though I am the darkness in the world but that's not the point! No, it's okay! I'll be fine." Draco carried on to blabbering on to himself calmly, Harry stopped jumping and looked at him as if he had just grown two heads. Was Draco really planning on going? He couldn't just leave him here like this!

"No, that's it, I'm going, glad that's all sorted now, ta-ta." Draco then turned around and walked straight into the bookcase.

Harry couldn't help it he burst out laughing at his friend's stupidity whereas Draco got very angry as Harry predicted he would.

Draco was growing tired of these games and just wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. But with everything going on in his confused mind at the moment, he turned back around rubbing his newly bruised hip and directed all of his anxiety at Harry. "You have a caring expression! Comfort me then!" Draco was eyeing him with a dirty look and Harry frowned.

"Comfort you? Comfort you? Malfoy, I want to fucking kill you!" Harry said back firmly all laughter gone and his anger increasing.

"Potter, you dirty bastard what have I ever done to you!" Harry raised an eyebrow and looked accusingly at the chair remains he was tied to half sitting half balancing on it.

They glared at each other waiting for the other one to make a move, at the same time they screamed and charged at each other as if going into battle. This was going to be a very long and painful night…

* * *

_Can you help me?_

_I__'__m hurting,_

_I__'__m confused with muddled thoughts,_

_Can you help me?_

_I__'__m bruising,_

_And I__'__ve surrendered in this war._

_Can you help me?_

_I__'__ve took too much,_

_I__'__m endangering my system,_

_Can you help me?_

_I need your touch,_

_And all your help with this._

_Can you help me?_

_I__'__ve made mistakes,_

_But I don__'__t want to exit this place,_

_Can you help me?_

_Please help me it__'__s not too late._

_Can you help me?_

_I__'__ll change,_

_Become a better person,_

_Can you help me?_

_To stop this facade,_

_And lessen what I__'__ve worsened. _

"_Can you help me?__"__ I whisper,_

_The breath is not entering my lungs,_

_Can you help me?_

_I__'__ve let go, but I__'__m so young,_

_Even I didn__'__t deserve this._

Hermione sat up sharply and forgot the poem that was floating around her head and the tears that trailed down her face. There had been a knock on the door and a voice barked at her to get ready. She buried her hands into her face and cried, not daring to look at the dress on the end of her bed.

She stood up screaming and crying hysterically, she couldn't take anymore. Banging on the windows and sobbing her heart out she screamed for them to let her go. She picked up things and threw them at the windows willing them to break so she would be free but they just bounced off and she felt like she was doomed.

She let out a long painful scream as she fell helpless and exhausted on the floor. _"__DRACO!__"_

* * *

"_I'm holding on your rope, got me ten feet off the ground…" _

It would have been a peculiar situation for anyone to walk into. Draco was indeed hanging upside down on a rope about 10 feet off the ground; Harry was panting on the floor smiling up at him triumphantly.

"Right Malfoy, now are you gonna chill out? I know I went a bit loopy earlier and you tied me to a chair, now you went loopy so I've hung you upside down. Now we're even."

"_I'm hearin' what you say but I just can't make a sound!" _

"Well, that's rude."

"_You tell me that you need me…"_

"Hey, now don't get too cocky, I said nothing like that of any sort." Harry objected. "But come on, stop singing then I'll cut you down." Harry said reasonably as he stood up. He scanned around the room looking for something to help him get Draco down. Thinking about it, he wasn't even sure how he had got him up! He decided Snape's desk would probably be the best.

"_Then you go and cut me down, but wait_…" Harry stopped pushing the table to where Draco was hanging. He had his hand out in front of him again, motioning for Harry to stop.

"_You tell me that you're sorry. Didn't think I'd turn around, and say…"_ Draco paused… _"It's too late to apologize, it's too late!"_ He said waving his finger at Harry as if he was telling off a small child. _"I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late!"  
_

SFTM_SFTM_SFTM_SFTM_SFTM_SFTM_SFTM

We return hundreds of miles away from Snape's House to Hogwarts where Crabbe and Goyle were still standing outside the Slytherin Dormitories trying to get in. It had been so long since they had been there that they didn't know the password, so they had spent the past hour waiting for a Slytherin to come along. They was just about to leave when they spotted there old dorm mate Theo walking towards them.

"Finally." Vince said smiling and standing up, he had been sitting on the floor waiting. "Just the person we needed." He joked slapping Theo on the back probably a little too forcefully, he had no choice but to stop dead in his tracks.

"Why? Why could you possibly need me?" He stuttered, looking between the two friends.

"We were waiting for someone to let us into the dorm, I mean we haven't been around for ages we've been, erm… looking for someone. Trying to fix this Soul Expression thing." Goyle tried to lie smoothly, but that hadn't come out right at all, he realised he shouldn't have said anything but it was too late now.

Vince cracked his knuckles, a habit he got from being scared. Theo gulped and looked down at them. "You alright mate? You look a bit… off." Theo faltered but then held his head high walking into the common room with the boys following.

"It's a good job he came down isn't it mate," Crabbe said to Goyle who nodded again.

"Oi, Theo!" Crabbe called out to him, he froze just as he was about to walk into the dorm. He turned around slowly.

"What?" He said trying to keep all emotion out of his face. Crabbe and Goyle were big, and if they knew about him and his plan then he wouldn't be able to fight them off by himself.

"I think you might have something that we…" Theo had got too edgy and he ran into the dorm at an alarming speed.

The two boys had never been too bright but they knew that was not normal behavior. Crabbe and Goyle exchanged a look before sprinting in there after him. They barged their way into the dorm both drawing there wands and pointing them at Theo who had ran himself into a dead end.

Crabbe glanced down at Goyle's wand realising that he had drawn it backwards in excitement and quickly changed it for him. He wanted to say something smart to this idiot but nothing came to him. It was too late they had faltered for too long and before they knew what had happened they were disarmed and Theo was pointing three wands at them and smile slightly madly. This wasn't going how the boys had planned…

* * *

Meanwhile, Ron wasn't in a very good position either. Ginny had dragged him into a classroom and was demanding he listen to her. Of course he couldn't answer because she had _pertrificus totalus__'ed _him.

"Finally! Now you WILL listen to me, Ronald?" Ginny screamed at her brother, slamming the classroom door behind her, directing an angry silence charm at the classroom door.

"Something weird is going on okay? I know I'm your sister and you NEVER listen to me but I've been noticing really strange things. Now if I take this charm off, you WILL listen to me." She stared at him for a good while until finally she undid the spell. Ron didn't know what to say he just stared at her with a guilty look on his face.

"Okay, well I guess I'll start from the beginning. It was something small to be honest. I've been sorting out Snape's store cupboard, long story cut short I have to clean it for the rest of the year as I... mumble mumble..."

"What?"

Ginny sighed. "I got caught cheating on my potions exam last year, Snape said he would keep it secret and let me redo it next year if I did his cupboard." Ron went to yell but she raised a hand. He rolled his eyes and sat on a desk. "While I was there someone came in, they didn't notice me as I was sat on the floor at the back. At the time I didn't realise who it was but now I know it was Blaise Zabini. He was stealing potions and ingredients; I didn't think much of it, him being a Slytherin and all so I left it. The ingredients he took weren't dangerous I had checked and so I forgot about it. But I thought it was weird, he must have been making a complex potion from the ingredients he took because it was from the restricted section. Why would he need such a complex potion? He was obviously up to no good Ron. And now I see you hanging around with him!"

"Blaise started the Soul Expressions." Ron explained to her. "He put one on Malfoy and it spread by accident but you can't tell anyone Ginny." He was rubbing the back of his neck feeling uncomfortable.

"Listen Ron, I was there a month or so later when Zabini returned with the left over ingredients and the rest of the potion. He put it to the back of the shelves with some griffin feathers, he was hiding it, but why didn't he keep it? He wasn't acting like himself as well, it was freaky. It was like he was bewitched, Ron. He was in a haze. After he left another boy came in, it was like he had followed Zabini and he took the rest of the potion! And now I realise that was the Soul Expression potion. I checked."

"So, Blaise made the potion, which I knew before, then put it in Snape's store. He didn't tell us that!"

"Did you listen to what I said? You dummy! He must have been under a spell, Imperius even." Ginny yelled getting frustrated.

"Who was it that followed him? Maybe that is who is responsible for the attack on Draco and what's been going on around the school."

"Exactly Ron, that's what I was getting at. You're not the brightest wand in the shop are you? Wait? What attack on Draco?"

"Oh, Malfoy had a lust potion put on him; this was ages ago mind you. A really strong one, he practically raped Snape..." Ron waffled on not seeing the look on Ginny's face.

"Zabini made a second potion Ron, just after that one, he put it in the cupboard just later that night." Ron stopped mid sentence. "A lust potion... I was sure that was what it was. I'm so stupid I should have tipped it away." She panicked, Ron shot up from the table and strode across to his younger sibling, grabbing her arms roughly.

"What did you say? FUCKING SLYTHERIN'S! They're all back stabbing bastards. It's Zabini isn't it Gin?" Ron fumed, but he had gone pale.

"No," She shook her head. "It's a boy called Theo; I don't know his last name but he was the one who followed him in after. He took the potions; he must be the one who is doing this."

Ron released her arms. "I don't even know who that is, I have no idea."

"He's in your year, he doesn't have many friends I always see him alone." Ginny said thoughtfully. "He would be the perfect person to do this, no-one would find out because he had no friends watching him, everyone would over look him."

"So he was using a spell to get Blaise to help him do all the Potions? Because he didn't have someone he could trust to help him, so he had to force someone." Ron turned this scenario over in his head as he spoke.

"He must have been brewing them with Zabini and then leaving him to finish them, so he took them to the potions store where he would collect them later. He must have, both those potions are very complex and they would need two people."

"But why would he pick Blaise?" Ron wondered out loud, it just didn't make sense.

"Ron, Zabini and Malfoy are always together so he could give him the potion, and Theo is crap at potions, Blaise is really good. You should know this; they are in your year not mine! And besides, Theo is in Slytherin, he must be in the same dorm as Malfoy and Zabini, he could easily put a spell on one of them. But not close enough for a potion! He must have got Blaise doing that as well." Ginny started to pace back and forth in the classroom. She knew very little about what was going on, but she understood that it was something big. Hermione and the Professors had went missing. It did make sense when all the pieces came together. "Ron, when Snape went missing he must have caught Theo going in his stores. So he must have caught him."

"Maybe. But why would he go to the stores? We are all in our own dorm now so Theo wouldn't be able to use Blaise anymore, he wouldn't see him."

Ginny sat deep in thought, trying to decipher what was going on. "So..." She started slowly. "That's why the only thing he could use was the soul expressions on everyone again. That's the only potion he must have had left after he used the lust potion on Malfoy. He couldn't make any others without help.

Ron nodded. "That does make sense, I've just remembered something. Pansy told me the Soul Expression was made wrong and it wasn't as strong as it was supposed to be. Which is why they were so shocked when Blaise announced he was the one who put it on Draco, he doesn't get potions wrong. Jason must have made a mistake. We have to go and let everyone know!"

With a glance between them, they ran to the door with the new information and to try and save their friends, not knowing it was too late. All their friends were long gone. They would all need a hero now.

* * *

Hermione cried silently as she changed into her red dress, muttering uncontrollably under her voice, "_Where have all the good men gone? And where are all the gods? Where's the street-wise Hercules to fight the rising odds? Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed? Late at night I toss and turn and dreamof what I need. I need a hero. I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night. He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast and he's gotta be fresh from the fight. I need a hero. I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning 's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon and he's gotta be larger than life."_

* * *

Songs- "Apologize" is a single by One Rebublic featuring Timberland and "I need a hero" is a single by Frou Frou, the original was by Bonnie Tyler.

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge. This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	32. Freak Me

Theo stared menacingly at Crabbe and Goyle, a triumphant smile flittering across his thin lips.

"So now you know it's me. Which is surprising seems you don't have two brain cells between you to rub together, do you?" He sneered and Goyle thought it looked all wrong on him, he just wasn't doing it right.

"Why?" Goyle asked.

"Why wouldn't I, eh? I was always ignored outshined by Malfoy and his stupid fan club. I could have ruled Slytherin."

"Sorry to tell you, but that's Draco's job."

"I know that, you nitwit!" He yelled, still holding the three wands. "I was going to take out the two of them with the soul expression potion to weaken them; only it bloody backfired didn't it. It was supposed to only be Potter and Malfoy that got it, but I didn't know it reflected did I? I wanted to deliver Potter to the Dark Lord before your precious Draco did and finally I would be acknowledged for my greatness. With Draco's guard down he would never be able to do it."

Crabbe and Goyle just looked confused. "Draco wasn't going to deliver Potter to..."

Theo groaned in frustration. "You two are possibly the most stupid-"

THUNK!

Theo fell over backwards as Goyle's shoe collided into his face. Somehow the boy had managed to slip it off and kick it with enough force to knock him over. Theo smashed his head on his trunk and slipped to the floor unconscious, the wands falling from his grasps. Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other shocked they had actually pulled something off.

Goyle shrugged, "I had no idea what he was on about to be honest, we should ask the others." Crabbe nodded.

"That was… weird. We all thought someone in school was part of it. I never thought it would be Theo, why Theo?"

"I don't know, I think he felt a bit left out. So what do we do now? Where do you think he's been keeping Hermione and the Professors? What would Draco do now?" They sat and thought about it.

"We should look for clues." And so they did.

They rummaged through Theo's things and they came to his trunk at the bottom of his bed. It was locked. Crabbe and Goyle didn't't know an unlocking spell. So they did it the good old fashioned way and broke it open. The lock gave a satisfying crunch and they opened the trunk.

When Crabbe had been saying 'I think you might have something we… need.' He was referring to potions he had noticed Jason had an interest in potions and hoped he would have some energy potions as he had saw him drinking them before. Crabbe was right for once because Jason's trunk was full of all different colored potions. They didn't't know what they all were so they grabbed one of each because Blaise would know what they were he was a wiz at potions and they might come in handy. There were 8 energy potions in veils too and they grabbed all of them as they most definitely recognized them. Then went in search for Harry and Draco proud that they were helping this mystery be solved.

* * *

Ron and Ginny had just burst into Cronan tower much to the annoyment of the Dragon, to find it empty.

"Where the hell are Harry and Draco?" Ron exclaimed, annoyed beyond words he pushed open the bathroom door just to make sure they weren't in there, he breathed deeply hoping they wasn't as stupid to not go along with their plan. He looked above the fire place at where they had kept the map for Snape's house and his fears were confirmed, it wasn't there! "Oh, those little bastards! They have gone without us!" he kicked one of the chairs for good measure but it didn't make him feel any better.

Ginny looked at him confused, "What are you talking about? And where the hell are we?" She looked around the room with beds lined up under the window. Were Ron and all the students really staying in this one room?

Ron tutted, "There's no time Ginny, Harry and Draco aren't here, they've went to Snape's house to rescue Hermione and McGonagall."

"But why are they at Snape's house I don't under..." It was just at that moment that Crabbe and Goyle walked in the door.

"Ah, Weasley! There you are!" Goyle said handing him a potion. "She-Weasel." He nodded at her politely and then turned to Ron ignoring her completely; it looked as though Ginny was going to 'Avada' him with her eyes.

"What's this?" Ron peared into the viel, wrinkling his nose.

"Energy potion, we all haven't slept in days and we don't want to suddenly collapse like last time, eh." Crabbe mumbled, Ron nodded and necked it instantly feeling more awake.

"Wait, where did you get this? You didn't make it, did you Vince?" Ron said suddenly alarmed.

"You will never guess what's just happened!" Goyle exploded, yelling accidently into Ginny's ear, he continued oblivious to her stare.

"Yeah, it was brilliant!" Goyle added with a huge smile on his face also not paying Ginny any attention.

"We went down to grab some energy potions from our dorm mate because obviously we didn't make them and he confessed to everything! Hermione, the Potion, everything! So we knocked him out!"

"Yeah, with my shoe!"

"And he was all like confessing and thought he would win 'cause he disarmed us, right? Then we got the better of him!"

"You should have seen it, it was brilliant!" Goyle finished speaking, very proud of himself.

Ron and Ginny looked at each other completely gobsmacked! Ron broke out in a huge smile. "That's bloody brilliant!"

"You idiots!" Ginny screamed, making the three boys jump.

"What!" They cried in unison.

"Where is he now?" She fumed turning very red, even more annoyed.

"Oh, he's in the dorm." Crabbe and Goyle replied still looking pleased with themselves. Ron's face fell instantly.

"We need to go back and get him, find out where he's holding Hermione." Ron immediately rushed out the door and started to jog down the corridor, he suddenly realised he had no idea where he was going. Crabbe and Goyle emerged from the tower looking embarrassed and Ginny pulling them by the poor little delicate ears. It was a rather funny sight to see, little Ginny Weasley making such large and intimidating Slytherins wince the way they were.

"Tell him, you buffoons!" She said letting go of their ears and then pushing them forcefully forwards.

"We don't really, kind of know what the password is, Weasley..." Ron took a very big soothing breath.

* * *

Back at Snape's house, the Professor was so annoyed with Harry and Draco being locked in the study, he decided it was time to put his plan into action. So he had walked to find his wife. He found her on the top floor reading a book.

"Hello dear, I bought you some of your favourite candy." He said sweetly. She smiled at him, took the jellytots off him and opened the packet very pleased.

"So," She said not looking at him but scoffing down the fruit flavoured jelly sweets. "What do you want? Jellytots are a rarity; you must really want something badly." She smiled to herself.

Snape dropped the act straight away. "Arazona, I really need to borrow your broom, I promise I won't wreck it again."

"If you do, I will be expecting lots more jellytots." He smiled, kissed her on the cheek and then ran out the room.

* * *

Ginny, Ron, Crabbe and Goyle were back in Cronan Tower looking at the Marauders Map that was on the wall, sure enough a tiny dot labelled Theodore Nott was in the Slytherin boys dorm.

Ron surprised everyone by pulling out his wand and jabbing the Slytherin entrance wall on the map, the word 'Cupcake' appeared. Ginny and Ron exchanged horrified looks.

"Cupcake? What the hell?"Ron said turning to the Slytherins.

"Well, we could never remember the password so they change it to foods we like so we can remember." Greg shrugged his shoulders.

"Bloody bearers of darkness my arse." Ron muttered to himself shaking his head. "Anyway, we need to go see this Theo bloke."

"Leave the map here!" Ginny argued as Ron went to take it down.

"But what if he moves? We'll never find him Gin."

"Didn't you say Harry and Malfoy had went somewhere, they will need to know where we are when they get back, especially if we get ourselves into any trouble in the dungeons." Ginny said, obviously the only intelligent one in the group. "Now come on." She instructed walking out of the tower.

Crabbe decided to leave two energy potions for Harry and Draco when they returned to the tower. He put them on the mantel piece propped up against one of the photo's there. He ran out after the others.

The group were just walking down the moving stairways when Pansy came bouncing towards them. "Hi, everyone!" She yelled.

"There you are, that detention was quick." Ron said puzzled.

"Well, it was only with Lucius, he only had me reading some drabble out loud, nothing nasty really. What's going on? You heading down to lunch, I'm starving I didn't see you in the hall so I thought you would be eating in the tower and decided to join you. How's the plan going, does the map work?" Pansy was speaking very fast as usual and the group had to stop to tell her to slow down.

Ron explained about what had happened, how he and Ginny had figured out who it was, how Crabbe and Goyle had... kind of ... captured him and how Harry and Draco had rushed off to Snape's House without them.

"So where's Blaise?" She questioned, noticing he wasn't with them. Ron Shrugged.

"Maybe he's with Harry and Draco?" They all nodded in agreement.

"So, what are we doing now?" She said trying to process all the new information.

"Well, we need to get Theo to find out what he has done with Hermione and the Professors." Ginny said looking at the girl as if she was stupid.

"Wait, what are you doing here again?"

The four sighed rolling their eyes, which was saying something because Crabbe and Goyle were two of the four.

"Just come on sweetheart." Ron said grabbing her by the hand and giving her a gentle tug to make her walk faster towards the dungeons.

* * *

Harry and Draco were still inside Professor Snape's study. They had made a truce and decided to go back to Cronan tower to tell the others of their findings. They were just climbing into the fire place when Snape came smashing through his window on a fancy looking broom with his wand raised and cursing about the state of his study. With quick thinking the boys ducked and shouted 'Cronan Tower' and in a flash they were stumbling into their familiar bedroom.

"Merlin, did you see the look on his face I thought he was going to blow a fuse!" Harry laughed.

"What?" Draco asked.

"Doesn't matter, I just don't think he was happy that we ruined his room."

Draco smirked, "Yes, well I would care... But I don't." Harry snickered as he brushed the soot off his clothing.

"Hey, look Draco." The dark haired wizard pointed above the fire place, "They left us an energy potion each."

Draco picked them up staring at them. "You know," He said furrowing his brow, "They look a bit different from energy potions." Draco sniffed one of them and handed it to Harry who sniffed it then chugged downing it.

"Well?" Draco said raising an eyebrow. Harry twitched.

"Nah, it's an energy potion." He could feel the adrenaline start to pump through his veins. Draco nodded before swallowing his potion; he closed his eyes wincing at the taste. Just then there was a bang as Snape fell through the fire place looking as though he could commit murder more than usual, he must have followed them.

"Potter!" He yelled. Draco opened his eyes for the first time and gulped in regret as a familiar sensation invaded his system, one he hadn't felt since... oh, crap. Then before he knew it he was more aroused over the sight of his potions professor than he had been in his life, over anyone that is. Draco couldn't help himself, it was all the potions fault as he suddenly burst into song...

"_I want to lick you up and down, 'till you say stop. Let me play with your body baby make you real hot..."_ Unfortunately Draco had started to hump the air and he looked seductively at Snape. Harry couldn't help but laugh. Yes, Snape was going to have his blood which was enough fear for one person in an entire lifetime, but this was just so humiliating he couldn't have stopped himself laughing at his friend's expense."_Let me do the things, you want me to do, because tonight baby, I'm gonna get freaky with you!"_

Meanwhile Snape turned green and ran from the room leaving Draco yelling after him about a dinner for two.

* * *

**Author Notes:** THANK you so much for all your lovely reviews! SFTM has now reached** 50,000** hits, **358** reviews,** 180** story alerts and over **120** favourites! ^^ So we're almost at the end now, I'd say about 5 more chapters and we are done,** I would love to make it over 400 reviews** :) Help me out guys, make my dreams come true?

* * *

The song featured in the chapter is called "Freak Me" by Silk.

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge . This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


	33. Outsmarting the Marauders

Ginny frowned as she followed the group to the Slytherin common room, those two really were idiots! She couldn't understand how Ron and Harry managed to get along with them two baboons, let alone that Pug-Faced-Pansy, who for some reason had decided to cling to Ron. When she finally got out of this weird situation she would be having serious words with her friends.

"Cupcake." Ginny was woken from her inner rant when the password was spoken. She followed them through the entrance wall.

"Well, where's the dorm then?" Ron said, turning to Pansy expectedly.

"Must I do everything?" She complained before stomping off to the 6th year boy's dorm. They were all completely unsurprised to find the door open and Theo gone. Ginny's blood was practically boiling, those boys were unbelievable.

* * *

After calming down a considerable amount Harry realised he would have to go and find out why Draco was singing so passionately to Professor Snape, it was then he realised that Draco had went in search to find his unrequited love. Now Harry was by himself in Cronan Tower. Where the hell was everyone else? Harry sighed and noticed the map was still pinned to the wall. He took a look and was pleased to find that Draco hadn't got very far; he seemed to have cornered the terrified Professor just down the corridor. It was then that he noticed that everyone was in the Slytherin dormitories. Huh, Ginny was there too, that was strange. But where was Blaise?He stared for a while but the map was so big when it was unfolded that it was difficult to pinpoint one person, that would be something he would fix in the future he was sure.

After a few minutes he noticed him at the edge of the map with someone named Theodore Nott. Who the hell was Theodore Nott anyway? He had never heard of the bloke. Oh no, was Blaise cheating on him? Hurt flared through Harry, was this where Blaise was sneaking off to all the time? He watched them walk down the corridor and traced the latin trying to remember what the words meant. Why were the Marauders so intelligent anyway? Didn't they realise Hogwarts wouldn't always teach latin? He wandered where they were headed as they seemed to be going to a dead end, no-one really used that part of the castle. Harry gasped as he watched their names blink out as they seemed to disappear into the wall of the castle. He grabbed a pencil off the fireplace and circled the map so he wouldn't forget.

It was then that Snape and Draco came back into the room, Snape's hair sticking up in a wild mess.

"Don't ask, Potter." He sneered. "One of those nasty Lust Potions again, where does he keep getting them from anyway?" Harry shrugged. "Well anyway, I have none of the cure left, I used it all last time, I've placed a calming spell on him just to soften the erm, lust, a bit." Harry nodded.

They both chose to ignore that Draco was transferring dust into floating love hearts and blowing them at Snape while they tried to have a serious conversation. Snape was quite impressed with his transfiguration skills but he wouldn't admit it.

"The potion had to have come from Crabbe and Goyle, but why would they drug Draco? They said they were going to the Slytherin dorms to pick up energy potions."

"And why would there be energy potions there,, Mr. Potter?"

"Well apparently there's someone who has loads of potions there, in their old dorm?" Harry questioned, realising that that wasn't possible as that dorm was now empty apart from one person. The person who must have drugged Draco.

"Professor... Who is left in the sixth year dorm?" He asked, pulling his wand out in a threatening manner.

"I believe there is a Mister Nott there." He sneered coming to the same realisation as the others. Harry was ready to march to map to find this Slytherin and bloody murder him but then tripped over in shock.

"Nott? I just watched a Theodore Nott disappear off the Marauders Map with Blaise. Oh no, I have to find him!" It was then he realised he would have to explain to Professor Snape about the map which he really wasn't looking forward too because he knew it would be taken off him.

"Marauders Map? I knew you had that monstrosity!"

"You know about the map?"

"Of course I do, your idiot father used to spy on me and prank me all the time with his werewolf friend and that mutt, Black. Though I did eventually outsmart them by warding my Headboy dorm so it was wiped off the map. I assume it worked as I got a lot more peace and quiet in my final year and they didn't seem to find my dorm room." Harry grabbed Snape in excitement and pulled him over to the wall to look at the map. "That is a big map," Snape commented as he watched the little footprints walk across the paper.

"By any chance is your old dorm room here?" Harry pointed to the pencil mark and Snape smiled, nodding.

"Yes, they were the old prefect quarters. They haven't been used for years, Hogwarts used to bunk all the prefects together you see, I don't know why they stopped using those rooms to be honest but I think they're empty now."

Harry bounced in excitement.

"I just watched Blaise and that Nott character disappear there."

"My goodness, then what are we standing here for? Let's go and get them!" Harry and Snape rushed out of the dorm room only to return a few minutes later when they realised they had left Draco behind.

* * *

Once discovering that the dorm was empty the others decided to go and see of Draco and Harry had returned from Snape's house. Everyone was in lesson's so they got through the corridors fairly quickly.

"Hey, I'm surprised that none of us have got a howler for bunking off our lesson's yet." Goyle muttered, "I always get a howler when I miss class." Ron and Ginny looked confused.

"I've never had a howler for missing school." Ron replied and Ginny nodded in agreement.

"Yes well," Pansy snapped. "You're normally saving the world or something alike." She scoffed, walking ahead of the others.

"Ha, not always, half the time I'm just too tired to get outta bed." Ron laughed.

"It's not funny Ron!" Ginny scolded, elbowing him.

"Bloody well is." He muttered as he rubbed his arm better.

They soon got back to the dorm and nothing seemed to have moved. They sat down on the beds and chairs. "Well I guess we should just wait." Ron muttered, reached forwards and ate a biscuit that was on one of the plates on the coffee table next to some empty veils. "Hey guys, what was in these veils?" He asked, spraying crumbs everywhere.

"Those were the potions for Harry and Draco!" Ginny exclaimed, jumping up and rushing to the map. "They must have got back and drank them! They're sure to be going down to the dorms to meet us! God, we missed them on the way back!"

Pansy jumped up and browsed the map too and Ron followed, soon everyone was crowded around it. "I don't think so, they're not there!"

Ginny frowned at the blonde.

"Well where else would they have gone?" She challenged. Ginny really hated this bimbo.

"To the place they have circled on the map?" Pansy snapped back, looking smug as she pointed a perfectly manicured nail and the pencil mark at the top corner.

"Wow, Pansy, it's times like these I really love you!" Ron said planting a kiss on her cheek and staring proudly at her.

Ginny furiously pulled the map off the wall and stormed out screaming in frustration as she watched her own footsteps make their way to... She squinted at the latin, Prefect Quarters.

* * *

Author Notes: I laughed so hard writing this, I keep picturing Snape to be like Snape from 'A Very Potter Musical' by 'Starkid' and really want a scene with him arguing with Lupin, "THAT'S ABSURD!" don't let me do it! Thanks for the reviews guys!

* * *

Fanfiction is by Faith Valconbridge . This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


End file.
